Not Guilty
by Brightbriar
Summary: Since his duel with Atem, Yugi has become much stronger. So strong, in fact, that someone's dead. Marik Ishtar is enlisted to carry out a murder investigation, due to his vastly superior knowledge of 'death by card games'. He is certain that Yugi is not responsible, and alongside an unexpected, and perhaps unwanted companion, he searches for the truth - who killed Kioru Tadako?
1. Prologue

**Cover by the forever fabulous Goshi, on pixiv and drawr :)**

* * *

He knew the story well enough.

The seven Millennium Items. The puzzle, the key, the scales, the ring, the eye, the necklace and the rod. They had been crafted thousands of years ago in order to stop the chaos caused by Shadow Games in Egypt. Their bearers alone could use the Shadow Magic, hence, they could only be worn by the Pharaoh and his priests. They only lasted for two generations before there was a huge battle over them, between the Pharaoh, Atem, and approximately four Bakuras. Looking at the items now, the duelist, (he could be identified by the deck of cards on his belt,) felt he knew the majority of these characters a little too well.

In any case, the items had been buried accidentally in the ruins of the village Kul Elna, to be discovered centuries later by ignorant archeologists. Ra knew, he didn't need the information displayed neatly beside the glass case they were held in to know that.

The duelist was of slightly below average height, and had incredibly tanned skin, dark enough that it wasn't hard to conclude he was from the east. He had long, blonde hair, neatly arranged in thick strands with soft points. He wore a lilac, sleeveless jacket-shirt type garment with a hood which exposed his mid-riff, black pants, and rather plain shoes. Perhaps his most distinctive feature was his eyeliner.

His hand clenched into a fist as he examined the objects. They shouldn't be here. They should be under the ground, buried, as they had been for six months before the government went to get them out again. After the Pharoh's soul returned to where it should have been. They'd ignored him, and the rest of his family, of course. They deemed them too valuable to remain underground. But the teenager looking at them know knew them to be too dangerous to be anywhere. In the wrong hands, things could be disastrous.

Tonight he'd ensure that would never happen.

"Excuse me, sir."

The teen looked around, his blonde hair falling annoyingly in front of his violet eyes. "Yes?"

A security guard was standing at the other end of the room, scowling. "We closed an hour ago."

The man blinked. "Oh."

They eyed each other for a moment. The security guard's dark gaze hardened. "You're going to have to leave now, or I'll call the guys who can make you."

The duelist merely cocked his head to one side, looking back at the shiny gold artefacts again. "Do you know what these are?"

"With all due respect, sir, I'm not a tour guide."

"Do you know what I could do to you by simply, oh, I don't know, breaking that case?"

"Step away from the-"

The man was already shaking his head. "Let me demonstrate."

And with that he threw all of his weight against the glass, which shattered easily. The guard reached for a radio and started barking orders into it, loudly and rapidly. Alarms started going off everywhere.

The thief then reached up and plucked the Millennium Items from their spots on the wall. The ring slipped easily around his neck on it's rope, and he strapped the puzzle onto his belt. The eye, the key and the necklace went deep into his pocket, and he took the scales in one hand and the rod in the other, that typical villainous smirk that all antagonists seem to wear on his face.

Guards swarmed the room, but he simply held the rod up in front of all of them. _Stay still_ , he willed. _Let me escape. And forget everything that has happened._

And with that, he slipped between them with ease, making his way towards the back entrance.

The next day, the museum received a letter:

 _To whomever it may concern,_

 _I would like to bring it to your attention that the security regarding the Millennium Items is simply appalling. Just last night I broke in and stole them. I hope you will forgive me, but they are extremely important, and evidently your security was not at the standard it should have been._

 _I will keep them - if you know who I am, then I'm sure you understand that it would be unwise to challenge me on this point._

 _Yours relatively sincerely,_  
 _Marik Ishtar_

 _PS: My deepest apologies regarding brain-washing your employees._

* * *

 **Besides this prologue, my chapters average at about 2300-2500 words. Sorry about the shortness XD**


	2. Chapter 1

Marik despised checking his emails.

His wifi was pretty dodgy. Since he didn't want anyone asking questions about his home in the tombs, he'd had to install it himself. Despite following Ryou's instructions as closely as he could, every now and then it would cut out, or say the connection was only "limited", which would either make it go really slowly, or it would stop working altogether. Furthermore, he hadn't yet figured out how to switch the emails to 'nested' format, meaning to read them in order, he had to scroll to the bottom of his unread items, and find all the ones with the same subject.

And all the _spam_. "Buy this deck!" "Buy this booster pack!" There was no way to subscribe to the Duel Monsters website without bring spammed with an email a week promoting the latest trading cards.

Still, it was a necessity. Although he kept in touch with Yugi and Ryou and the others via text, their _was_ some stuff worth reading on his email. Duel Monsters tournaments and such - he imagined he'd have a shot at second or third place in a lot of them, assuming Yugi and Kaiba were also entering.

He scrolled through them, deleting the useless ones, and filing away the others to try and keep his inbox tidy. He narrowed his eyes as he saw one that he wasn't expecting.

 _Subject_ _: URGENT - READ NOW OR I WILL BURN ALL OF YOUR DECKS_  
 _Sent_ _: Thursday 23rd September 1:03am_

 _I'm not sure if any of you will have heard yet, but Yugi's been arrested. A card game gone wrong, or so people say. The guy who he was duelling, Tadako, dropped dead when he lost. I imagine I'm not the only one having déjà vu here._

 _According to you lot, since Yugi's other half thing_ _isn't around anymore, this can't have happened._

 _?!_

 _I think we all know Yugi wasn't responsible. So I suggest you all get your asses over to KaibaCorp headquarters and try and explain to the police, because I have no clue how. That is, if anyone will believe you. I'm happy to send out the dragon jets if it's convenient._

 _Sincerely,_  
 _Seto Kaiba._

 _Please consider the environment before printing this email._

Marik blinked stunned, rereading the email a few times, leaning back in his chair. Yugi had been arrested for murder. _No, that can't be right, surely...two day ago?! How-_

There were a lot of replies from the others - Honda, Jonouchi, Bakura and Anzu. Still stunned, he skim read through the first dozen or so, which were along the lines of 'umm yep we already know this is really bad', then typed 'kaiba' into the search bar, keen to see if there was anything else from the child millionaire. (Or was it billionaire now? He didn't really care.)

After waiting for what seemed like 10 minutes, the page loaded, and one other unread item appeared.

 _Subject_ _: Card Games Investigation_  
 _Sent:_ _Friday 24th September 10:30am_

 _Is your phone turned on?! Do you ever check your emails?!_

 _Anyway, I've been talking to the police, and they want to hand the investigation over to you. They know even less about this supernatural card game stuff than me. They want you in Japan. They reckon Yugi's guilty, but with no way to prove it, they're stuck. You'd better come over here and prove them wrong, and soon. This is starting to get some media attention, and everyone's really worked up, especially Jonouchi._

 _Let me know if you need a jet._

 _Sincerely,_  
 _Seto Kaiba_

 _Please consider the environment before printing this email._

Marik ran one hand through his hair, his elbow on the desk, staring dumbfounded at the screen. He could read English, Japanese and Egyptian, but he was _really_ struggling to comprehend this. And it had happened so quickly too.

He remained seated in his wheeled chair and pushed himself across the floor to his phone, which was plugged into the charger at the wall. He'd forgotten to check it, too caught up with everything involving stealing the millennium items back. Which, of course, he had no regrets about - he couldn't stand having them in the hands of people who didn't understand them. It was too dangerous.

There were a lot of texts from Ryou, and a heap in a group chat with Kaiba, Yugi, Jonouchi, Honda and Anzu. He skim read them all, his mind racing. There was stuff about Yugi's lawyer, his cards, his career...and Marik's investigation, which was apparently a thing.

He decided the quickest thing to do would be to send something in the group chat:

 _Hey guys, sorry for not checking my internet stuff. I've been a little...preoccupied with a certain set of Egyptian artifacts recently. Don't worry Jonouchi, I haven't killed anyone..._  
 _I'm more than happy to lead the investigation. (Can I be a superintendent? 'Superintendent Ishtar' has a really cool ring to it...haha, 'ring' XD...sorry Bakura...)_  
 _Kaiba, if you could send over a jet, that would be great. I wouldn't be able to get the Millennium Items onto a regular flight without brainwashing people, which of course, I'm happy to do, if it's easier for you._  
 _But yeah, this is really strange. I'd be tempted to investigate it anyway. I'm pretty sure all the MIs are free of spirits._

It would be around midnight in Japan, so he wasn't expecting a reply anytime soon. Except maybe from Ryou or Kaiba. He pulled his phone off the charger, letting the cord fall to the floor, then got up and walked over to the Millennium Items, which were displayed on a table, checking over them to make sure there was nothing unusual.

The rod had obviously worked back at the museum, but he still took off the cover on the end to inspect the point, which was still as deadly as ever. He wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing, but he didn't dare try to make it blunt. The ring was equally deadly, and didn't appear to be damaged in any way - even the rope was the same. But somehow, it seemed considerably lighter, perhaps due to the absence of the spirit that once dwelled within it.

He polished them both, and made a start on the scales, before his phone buzzed. It was Ryou. He reached for it, and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Marik, is that you?"

"No, it's a kuriboh. Of course it's me - who did you expect?"

"Oh, no-one. You." There was a pause. "It could have been Rishid."

"Rishid's in Cairo," Marik pointed out.

"Oh. Good for him. Anyway, I saw your text. What's this about the Millennium Items?"

"I just got them back from the museum. I didn't want them to fall into the wrong hands."

"Was it before or after Yugi was arrested?"

"Before. And I haven't noticed anything unusual with them - I was just checking again now."

"Alright." The end of the word turned into a kind of yawn.

"Are you okay? You sound exhausted."

"Yeah, we all are. And it's 1 in the morning."

"You should probably go back to bed. Save your energy."

There was a pause. "Hey Marik?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you tell what time it is? In the tombs?"

"Watches. Amazing things."

"But before that..."

"We have this hole in the roof. We used to look at the sun and the stars and things. You can also tell the seasons."

"Oh. Huh."

"How's the deck building going?"

"Good. Slowly, but good. Lots of spell and equip cards."

"Nice. Don't forget traps - they're possibly more valuable since you can play them in your opponent's turn."

"True. I'll remember - Yugi was helping me, before..."

"Yeah. Are you sure you don't need to sleep?"

"I do, but I can't."

"You should try. I should let you go. Pack, so that I can come over."

"Okay. Good night..afternoon...morning...thing."

"Night Ryou."

The other duelist hung up.

Marik locked his phone and pocketed it again - there weren't any more messages. As he checked over the other items, he wondered if Ishizu and Rishid had heard about this. Ishizu must have - she was _in_ Japan. _Why didn't she tell me? Does she know anything? Did the others just not think to ask?_ He'd definitely talk to her once he got over there.

He stretched, put back the gold objects, read over his messages again and threw together some clothes while he waited for a response from Kaiba - some indication of when the jet might be here. He tapped his foot on the dust floor impatiently. _Maybe I should just text Ishizu._ But something kept him from doing so.

He didn't have to wait long. Kaiba sent a response two hours later - God knew what he was doing up at 3AM.

 _I'll send a jet - should be there in about 16 hours. Bring everything you think you'll need, and your deck. Don't forget your deck._

Marik sent a quick reply assuring him he wouldn't. As if. He found some warm clothes at the back of his cupboard - it was late autumn over there, and he despised the cold, but at least the leaves would be pretty. He added the most of the Millennium Items to his small bag, but he decided to keep the rod on his person. It was special, and in his view, the most useful by far.

It was difficult to sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about Tadako's death. How has it happened? Yami wasn't around anymore, and it wasn't like him to go on killing sprees anyway. Unless something had been possessing Tadako. But _what?_ He was sure the other Bakura was dead. He had to be.

Shadi and Pegasus...there was no way they could have done it, although it was entirely possible that Pegasus had the motivation. But Marik had been in possession of the Millennium Items, not either of them. It was a good thing they hadn't asked Shadi to investigate - the theft's timing would have made him look incredibly suspicious.

He was certain it had something to do with the Millennium Items being uncovered in the first place. The timing was too close. Who knew who had been in contact with them before he'd stolen them back.

Eight or so hours of kind-of-sleep later, he called Rishid, who was equally surprised, and agreed to watch for anything suspicious in Egypt. He was going to return to the tomb later that week anyway. Marik felt considerably better after talking to him. Not everything seemed so daunting.

Only a year had passed since what everyone had thought was the end of this people-dying-playing-card-games business. Marik was 17. He wasn't sure if he should be the one doing this. But it was definitely true that he was the one with the most experience and knowledge with this stuff - perhaps he was the only one who could.

He was kind of jealous of the rest of the gang, over in Japan. Kaiba has KaibaCorp to run, and Yugi's career playing cards had been going smoothly. If that couldn't go on after all of this fuss, he was content running the game shop. Ryou was aspiring to become a novelist, since he had so much experience in character design through RPGs, Anzu had always wanted to do dance in New York, and Jonouchi was thinking of taking up soccer more seriously. Even Honda had some sort of plan, wanting to make a name for himself in the car industry. Marik had no clue.

After what seemed like an age, the dragon jet arrived. Marik was surprised to see Mokuba had come, but he could see why Kaiba had sent him. He was glad to see Mokuba, but he hoped Kaiba's brother wouldn't engage him in conversation right away. He dropped this hint by asking if the jet had wifi. Kaiba, being Kaiba, made the password 'blueeyeswhitedragon'. _Never would have guessed._


	3. Chapter 2

It was good to have a run-down on what had happened in Japan in person, and Mokuba was one of the best people to get it from. Kaiba's younger brother was also careful to pass on that Marik should be as on guard and wary as possible. Considering how strangely things had played out over the past day or so, he stressed that it wasn't safe to trust anyone. Marik wasn't about to question this advice, but he couldn't help but wonder if this statement seriously contradicted having such an obvious wifi password. Still, it probably wasn't wise to bring this up with KaibaCorp's Vice President. How Kaiba made it legal to get Mokuba into the workforce when he was so young, even if it was as a part of his own company, Marik would never know.

When the jet landed, several hours of Flappy Bird and Alfred Hitchcock movies later, everything went so quickly it was kind of a blur. Kaiba exchanged a few quick words with him as he got off the plane, before rushing off, probably to do important CEO and/or police investigation stuff. Marik could only remember nodding and agreeing with everything he said, whatever it was. Things were going kind of fast, and he was trying to adjust to hearing Japanese for the first time in at least nine months. He was ushered into a taxi and taken to the Domino City Police Department Headquarters, (at this point the main thought going through Marik's mind was imagining journalists trying to say _that_ quickly while on camera,) where he was led to the person who had been assigned the investigation until it got all Shadow-Gamey, Hayashi Shota.

Hayashi was a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, at least half a head taller than Marik, clean-shaven, with close-cropped hair. He was clearly of Japanese descent, with jet-black hair and dark eyes, and was wearing a crisp uniform, which made him look very official, save his slightly askew tie, and his relaxed posture and bright expression. He seemed agreeable enough. In a way, his manner reminded Marik a little of Jane Austen's Mr Wickham - he was incredibly handsome, charming, and had flawless manners. Hopefully he wasn't hiding something, the way Wickham had been.

His office was made to look more spacious than it probably was. Cabinets and bookshelves lined the edges of the room, as well as a large, leafy pot-plant in the corner. Antique weapons, mostly from Japan, sat on top of almost every spare surface - knives, daggers, katanas, guns, even a pair of ancient-looking throwing stars. He was quick to notice one of the weapons near the door - an old Egyptian sickle sword.

He took a step closer. "A khopesh. Introduced into Egypt when the Egyptians came into contact with the Canaanites. It was a favoured weapon for protectors of the pharaoh." He whistled. "Very nice."

Hayashi was clearly impressed. "Your knowledge of Egyptian weapons _is_ thorough, Mr Ishtar! I was told you were good with this stuff, but how good, I couldn't have guessed." He smiled, shaking his head. "You have my full respect."

Marik blinked. In terms of knowledge of Egyptian weapons, Hayashi didn't know the half of it, though he couldn't help feel flattered. But the last time he'd been called Mr Ishtar was by the Rare Hunters. He didn't like the memories that we're starting to resurface. "Um...Marik will do."

"I'm glad. We will be working together, after all. Call me Shota."

Marik nodded. "I take it you've spent a lot of time building up your collection?"

Shota gave a sort of bow-nod, grinning. "Of course. Maybe a bit too much - some friends call me Shot as a consequence. Well, and because of the fact that I can't hold my liquor at all - one shot's plenty for me. But many of these old things were my grandfather's. Please, sit down."

"Thanks."

Marik made for a dark brown possibly-IKEA chair on the opposite side of his desk. The layout of the room was strange in the sense that Shota's back was to the door when he sat down - all of the weapons were displayed behind him, and he could look out the window as he worked. Marik could see why he'd do that - the view was brilliant. "What do you want me to do?"

Shota shrugged. "Simple. I want you to figure out how Tadako died, and at whose hands. I've been informed by Kaiba that you don't think Yugi's guilty."

"I'm certain of it. If Tadako died the way I think he died, it's not logistically possible."

"I'm glad. He seems like a nice kid." He glanced, almost wistfully, at the door. "But my colleagues will not be as easily persuaded without solid evidence."

Marik nodded. "Of course not," he replied smoothly. "Can I speak to Yugi? Privately?"

Shota looked a little uncomfortable. "Privately? I don't know if my seniors..."

"If I have any hope of solving your case, I'm going to have to." He paused, then reluctantly added, "He won't say anything of use in front of you lot. No offence."

Shota paused. "My boss isn't going to like this."

Marik thought of the millennium rod, propped against the leg of the table. _They don't have to know._ "If you don't allow me to enter that cell, alone, I'll break in there myself, you know. Not sure if anyone warned you, but I'm kinda good at that too."

Shota narrowed his eyes, his hair falling in front of his face. "Actually, some guy called Kemo _did_ warn us. I like you, Marik. You have spirit. But keep in mind we're all on the same side here, okay? I'll see what I can do. Wait here."

Shota pulled a heap of papers out of a drawer in the side of the table, gave a brief nod, flashing one last smile, then left the room.

Then the duellist heard a voice behind him. A terribly familiar one. "I think you should still break in there. Leave and break in now. No-one would suspect you."

Marik nearly leapt out of his chair in surprise. He knew that voice. By God, he _knew_ that voice, and he was pretty sure it was behind him. "Please tell me I didn't just hear that."

No reply. Marik clenched his fists. This couldn't be right. But he definitely heard _that voice._ "Bakura! Bakura, where the hell are you?!"

Silence. Marik took a deep breath, then said slowly and deliberately, "Bakura, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice. If you don't show yourself by the time I count to three, I will create a fake Instagram account under your name and start a Yugi Motou Fanclub on your behalf. One..."

Nothing. Marik slowly pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Two..."

He opened his Instagram app, let his finger hover over the logout button for a few moments, pressed it down, then moved to 'create new account'. "Thr-"

"Fine! Bloody _fine_ , you bloody git! I'm here!"

Marik spun around, grabbing the millennium rod. "Where?!"

"By the window!" Bakura sounded impatient.

Marik paused, frowning. Then he noticed a very, very faint mass of white hair. Same striped shirt, same black pants. Just really opaque. "Seriously, What the hell! How the hell are you not dead!?"

Ryou's Yami opened his mouth to explain, then slipped behind the filing cabinet as the door began to open. _What the hell?_

Marik turned back to the door to see Shota, who looked a little confused as to why Marik was standing up. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah. I...thought I heard a blowfly. Yeah. Nevermind."

Shota shrugged. "They said you can talk to Yugi, but only if we can put a camera in there. Does that suit you?"

 _Yeah. If anything I don't want you to see starts to happen, I can stick the pointy end of a certain Egyptian artefact through the lens._ "That's great."

"Brilliant. Come back at nine this evening - do whatever you like until then. I think there's a shop that sells cards if you want to check that out, down the street."

Marik, still shaken by Bakura's sudden appearance, absentmindedly nodded. "That sounds great. Have you ever played?"

"My cousins do. It's an interesting game, but I'm not dedicated enough to collect the cards I want. I play online occasionally. Oh, and do you have somewhere to stay?"

"I was thinking of staying in the Game Shop, as long as it's not being investigated by people. I'm the only one doing this investigation, right?"

Shota nodded uncertainly. "Yes, but..." he bit his lip. "Look, I have to tell you Marik. There are other people here that don't want you doing this. It's not really about your youth, but they think you'll be biased because of your friendship wth Motou."

Marik sniffed. "They sound equally biased to me."

"Maybe, but..." Shota smiled weakly, placing a hand on Marik's shoulder. "Just be careful, okay?"

Marik swallowed. "Alright. I will."

Then he dashed out the door, glancing around wildly. " _Bakura_!" he hissed. "Hello?"

Bakura materialised in front of him. Marik leapt backwards. "Will you stop doing that?!"

Bakura shrugged. "Why should I?"

Marik grabbed his "wrist" (this was difficult to do, since he could hardly see the spirit, and he couldn't actually feel him either,) and dragged him down the corridor, into the elevator, then glared at him accusingly, pressing the button for the ground floor, then folding his arms. "What are you doing here?! How the hell are you still alive?!"

"Why should I tell _you_?" he sneered.

"Because I have the power when it comes to that Instagram account." He leaned forward and poked Bakura's chest with finger. " _Talk_."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "My spirit wasn't just in the millennium ring, remember? I had the ability to move souls into plenty of things, and a part of mine also happened to in a pair of cracked die from who knows how long ago. I forgot about them. Unless something happens to them, you're stuck with me."

Marik frowned. "Wait, how many pieces is this dice in?"

Bakura shrugged. "Not sure. Lots, from memory. Probably been pushed into Ryou's carpet or something."

Marik let out a long sigh. "And this is all that's left of you?"

"Yes."

Marik grinned slowly. "Without the ring, you can't move souls around anymore, can you? Including your own. You're stuck."

Bakura glared at the wall, his spiky hair making him look more menacing than he probably was now. "Not powerless. I can still bug you, can't I?"

Marik almost felt a twinge of sympathy him. Almost. "If that's all you can do, I'd say you're powerless."

Bakura narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to spit some sort of scathing response as the elevator gave a pleasant 'ding' and the doors opened. Marik stepped out, and was a little surprised when Bakura followed. "What, you don't have anything better to do?"

Bakura glowered at him. "Not really."

Marik shrugged, and they left the building. As Shota had promised, they did sell cards, at a small newsagent around the corner. Marik went to inspect them while Bakura looked at the magazines. "Did you want the latest CoroCoro?"

"Already got it."

Marik ended up buying an inexpensive pack of Duel Monsters cards, some regular playing cards with a dragon-themed design on the back which he couldn't resist, even though he'd already bought three packs of cards with other nice designs of about three different occasions, and a large chocolate bar. Bakura didn't say much. Marik paused outside the door of the shop. "Hey, Bakura?"

"Yeah?"

"You didn't have anything to do with Tadako, did you?"

"Of course not. If I still wanted to get back at Yugi, I wouldn't do it through _him._ Yugi was always going to win that game, and it's the pharaoh I have a grudge against. Besides, I'd hardly show myself to you if I did. I'm not stupid."

"Putting aside the fact that your soul's currently in your former vessel's carpet."

Bakura let out a frustrated sigh. "Yes. Putting aside that."

Marik checked his watch. "It's 4:30. Any ideas regarding what to do for the next few hours?"

Bakura's eye wandered to the shopping bag Marik was holding. "Cards."


	4. Chapter 3

Marik, (after discovering Bakura was _incredibly_ good at Go Fish, but not so much at Norwegian Snap,) made sure he was back at the station well before 9:00pm. He was anxious to talk to Yugi - it sounded a lot like Kaiba and Jonouchi and the others hadn't been allowed to.

He'd been thinking a fair bit about Bakura's defence, and though he didn't want to admit it, what the spirit had said made a lot of sense. It _was_ improbable that he would, or could kill Tadako, but that didn't mean the duelist wasn't suspicious anyway. He didn't know how he felt about Bakura being 'alive' either, but he supposed there was nothing he could do about it. As long as he really _was_ powerless, there was no point trying to destroy him properly.

Shota had already been outside Yugi's cell when he arrived. If Marik had any power at all, he'd have Yugi released, but since Yugi was probably still the police's prime suspect, he suspected that wouldn't be possible without doing a bit of brainwashing, and he wasn't convinced Yugi would be particularly excited by that idea. Shota hadn't been alone - a taller, stern-looking man who hadn't even introduced himself was there too, sort of glaring at him. Marik kept a tight grip on the Millennium Rod, reminding himself that these people had no power over him.

He and Shota exchanged a brief, but friendly greeting. Then the young officer pulled inserted a four-digit code into the security system, being annoyingly careful to block Marik's view, and the door slid open. Yugi and Marik's eyes met for a moment, before Shota spoke. "You have an hour. I'll be in the security room, doing a transcript of everything. The camera's on."

Marik nodded. "Okay."

Shota smiled, did a half-bow thing that Marik still hadn't found a name for, and closed the door again. Marik turned back to Yugi again. He looked exhausted - dark circles under his eyes, slightly deflated posture, the lot. His expression was one of pure relief. "You're doing it. Kaiba said he was trying to get you here."

"Yeah. Thank Ra, right?"

"Thank Ra," he murmured. "I guess its question time then?"

"Yeah, um, I want the whole truth and nothing but the truth, etc., etc...first thing's first..." He pulled a face at a camera in the corner, then he glanced at Yugi, frowning. "How the hell is your hair still so freaking perfect?"

Yugi cracked a smile. "Is this a major part of your investigation?"

"Um...yes. Very important."

"Right...well, to be honest, I have no idea."

"Whatever. So um...what actually happened? During the duel?"

Yugi bit his lip, his shoulders sagging slightly. "I...have no idea about that too."

"What, you don't remember it?" _So he was being possessed? Surely not by Atem..._

"No, I do, and I was playing it, I just...don't know why it happened..."

He paused, closed his eyes, and much to Marik's alarm, started crying. The former tomb keeper's eyes widened, and he rushed over, wrapping an arm around Yugi's shaking shoulders. "Yugi..."

"It's my fault! It's my fault he died, isn't it?! If I'd lost that duel then-"

"Yugi, you're being stupid!"

"But I _knew,"_ he argued, brushing a gold strand of his incredibly bizarre hair out of his eyes. "I knew something felt off, but there was nothing I could do, so and just kept going. I should have stopped, or warned him, or-"

"And risked your own life?"

Yugi swallowed, looking uncomfortable. "Well, maybe. Why did he have to die over me?"

Marik shook his head. He hadn't been prepared for this. "Look, I don't mean to sound insensitive, but I'm here to get your butt out of this prison cell, not have a philosophical debate. Please?"

"But..."

"I just want you to tell me as much as you can. Proving your innocent is already freaking hard, but the more you tell me, the easier it is."

Yugi took a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm himself. "Okay. You never were one for moral support anyway, were you?"

"Yeah, not really. Sorry. Looks like you need it. I'll see if I can get permission for Jounouchi to come in."

Hope lit up the other duelist's eyes. "Really?"

"Really," Marik said firmly. "Because I'm rubbish at this conforting thing."

"You really are," Yugi sniffed, laughing a little.

Marik shrugged. "So you knew there was shadow magic at the time?"

"Yeah. It just...felt like it, you know?"

"Do you think Tadako could tell?"

Yugi shook his head. "Doubt it. But there's no way of knowing, really."

Marik nodded. "What kind of strategy did he use?"

"It was interesting. Sort of...defensively offensive. He had a heap of traps and spells, mainly to protect his monsters so that he could tribute summon strong enough ones. Oh, and he had more quick-play spell cards than I expected, too. His deck had no specific theme - it was meant to adapt to lots of different situations, I think."

Marik searched his pockets for a notebook. "Can you repeat that, slowly?"

Yugi patiently told Marik all the details of the game he could remember - how long it went for, what cards Tadako used, and so on, being careful to steer away from the shadowy elements for now, since Yugi still seemed kind of fragile. He knew he could get this information more reliably later, but Yugi's perspective might be important too.

The longer the conversation went on, the more he realised how much Yugi had changed. He was so much more like Atem since when they first met - his posture, his choice of words, some of the gestures he made with his hands while he spoke, the determination in his eyes - they all echoed the old pharaoh. _He's stronger than he was. He'll pull through this, too._

Marik realised he'd been shaken more by the investigation than a lot of shadow games he'd played. Certainly not all of them, but previously, some of the games he'd played felt a lot less like a real threat, probably since they strayed so far from reality. They seemed unreal, less dangerous. But the fact that they had these sorts of consequence too had really shaken him, and evidently Yugi too, who had just as much, if not more experience than himself with these things.

Marik kept glancing nervously at the camera. Maybe he should have turned it off (ie stabbed a certain pointy object through it) during Yugi's 'it's my fault' speech, but at the same time, to anyone with a scrap of sense, it showed anyone watching that he was human too. And it was obvious that Yugi didn't mean for this to happen, surely? And the DCPD would trust him a little more. Maybe.

"So," Marik said once he'd finished with the technical stuff. Hopefully. "How have they been treating you here?"

Yugi shrugged. "About what you'd expect. Not much respect. A little fear. Really disconnected. I've been getting lots of onigiri though. I think that Shota guy had something to do with that."

Marik nodded. "Yeah. He's not too bad, is he?"

"No. No, I don't mind him."

Soon enough, Shota came back in, nodded to Yugi, then he and Marik left the cell. Marik sent Yugi an encouraging smile and a subtle thumbs-up as he left, which didn't appear to impress Shota, but the officer didn't contradict him directly - he simply said, "You two go back a fair way, don't you?"

"You don't know the half of it." _Nor do you need to_.

Shota nodded. "Anyway, KaibaCorp's booked you a hotel room not far from here. I'll just grab the address..."

As Shota searched through his pockets, Marik slowly grinned. "Kaiba did something nice? I won't let him hear the end of this..."

Shota frowned. "Is there anyone involved in this that you _don't_ know?"

Marik blinked. "Yeah. You."

* * *

Marik didn't understand how a bed could be so comfortable. How it didn't have a single lump in it as he bounced on it. How a mattress could be so perfect, and squishy, but also firm, and soft, and silky, and-

"Marik, are you going to sleep in that bed or sleep _with_ it?" Bakura snapped.

Yeah, the spirit was still following him. Currently, he was perched on a stool in the corner of the room, leaning on the windowsill, looking out at the view. Pretty, city lights. Marik rolled over to look at him and narrowed his eyes. "Shut up."

Bakura shrugged and look back out the window. Marik gazed up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. "Hey, Bakura?"

"What," he deadpanned.

"Remember when Kaiba had green hair?"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Remember when you didn't ask stupid questions? Oh, wait, that never happened. My bad."

"Yeah. Like the time when you weren't sarcastic."

"And the time when you weren't hypocritical."

Marik rolled over, grinning a little, but didn't let Bakura see. "I've kind of missed this, you know?"

Bakura snorted. "Missed what?"

"Arguing with you. Well, very occasionally, but still."

"Oh. Wait, was that a compliment?"

"Nah, more of an observation."

Bakura nodded. "Good. I was a little concerned for a moment there."

An awkward silence fell between them. Marik glanced at his watch. 11pm. "I should sleep. _In_ the bed. Do you need to sleep? Like, ever?"

"No. You know that phrase 'you can sleep when you're dead'? Yeah, not happening."

"What, so you just don't get tired?"

"Marik, I'm _dead_."

"Still."

Bakura sighed dramatically. "No. No, I don't get tired."

"Alright then." Marik reached over to the bedside table and flicked off the light. "Good night."

"I hope vampires chase you in your sleep," Bakura replied, but Marik didn't miss the humour in his voice. Marik was about to respond, but Bakura got in first. " _And_ I hope they sparkle."

"What?! Bakura, how could you?!" He dramatically fell back, into his incredibly soft pillow. "I trusted you, and you betrayed me!"

"Suck it up, you twat." Marik could almost hear him grinning as he said it.

Marik shrugged. "I imagine you eavesdropped on Yugi and I?"

"Yeah, your entire conversation was being livestreamed to the security area."

"I don't think it's called livestreamed if it's with security cameras."

"Whatever. So, what are you going to do now?"

"Sleep."

Marik could almost feel Bakura's urge to throw something at him. "About the investigation!"

"Oh. I was going to talk to Tadako's family."

Bakura probably raised an eyebrow, knowing him. "What, before you watch the video of Yugi and Tadako's match?"

"Yeah. I want to get a bit of background first. And I might be able to gain their trust. What do you think they'll make of a 17 year old investigating their son's death?"

"They'll probably think you're a moron, and they'll probably be right about that."

"Lovely. I'm sure they'll be delighted with the idea of having a dead murderer in their home, too. Which is why I don't want you to come."

"What?"

"You're distracting!" he said, glancing over at him. "I can't have a proper conversation with you commenting on some flaw in my character every other sentence?"

"Alright, fair enough. I'll amuse myself tomorrow, don't worry."

Marik frowned. "That sounded sinister. Maybe I do want you with me tomorrow..."

"Marik, what could I possibly do?"

"Okay, fair point."

He checked his messages one last time, choosing not to reply to the group chat, then locked his phone. Then glanced at Bakura, unlocked it, and changed his passcode. He didn't want to take any chances should the spirit try to get into it - that would mean Marik couldn't blackmail him with the instagram account thing.

He looked back at Bakura one last time, suddenly feeling a little sorry for him. _It must seriously suck to be dead._

Then he rolled over, and slowly went to sleep.


	5. Chapter 4

Marik almost slept through his alarm, jet-lagged and tired out from yesterday's events. Bakura had to throw some of his most insulting taunts at the duelist to get him out of that amazingly comfortable bed, let alone out the door. But finally, at about 10:30, he left, a puffy parka jacket zipped up to his neck, his hands clamped firmly around a warm cup of coffee.

The Kioru family's house was fairly close to the city, which made things pretty easy for Marik - he caught public transport to the edge of the suburb, then walked there with the help of Google Maps. The house was sweet and quaint, with a few boxes of flowers along the windows. A teenager was watering them, over-ear headphones blocking out her surroundings. He paused before hesitantly calling out, "Hello?"

The girl looked up, pulled the headphones down so that they sat on her shoulders, brushing a strand of smooth jet-black, straight hair out of her eyes. Her hair wasn't long - it only just reached her collarbone. She was probably fourteen or fifteen. "Yes?"

"Are your parents home?"

"No," she replied slowly, frowning. "Are you Marik Ishtar?"

Marik was a bit surprised that she recognised him. Had the police told them that he would be coming? "Yes, I am."

The girl's eyes went wide with awe. "My brother talked about you all the time. You were runner up in the Battle City tournament."

"This is about him, actually. May I come inside?"

The girl nodded, her eyes darkening. "Alright."

She showed him in and invited him to sit down. "Do you want some tea?"

"I'm fine, thankyou. I've just had coffee. What was your name again?"

The girl started to put on some tea for herself. "Akira. Kioru Akira."

She finished making the tea in silence before sitting down, fidgeting with a rubber band in her hands. "Mum and Dad should be home in about an hour."

"Okay." Marik paused. "You seem to be coping with all of this well."

"Thankyou. I...I think I'm more in shock than anything else."

Marik nodded. "I know. I've lost a relative before too. I was a little younger than you."

"Who was it?"

"My father." He decided not to mention how he died. Who killed him.

"...what are you doing here?"

"DCPD asked me to carry out the investigation."

"...you're still a teenager though."

"I know far more about this stuff than they do."

"What stuff?"

Marik sighed. "I doubt you would believe me."

"Try. Please. I won't think you're making it up."

Marik swallowed, looking away. _How do I explain her brother was killed by shadow magic?_ But Akira continued to stare at him, her expression slowly changing from wide-eyes curiosity to a strange mix of accusation and concern. "Do you know how my brother died?"

"Sort of. I can guess how whoever did it pulled it off."

Hope filled her eyes for a moment. "The police won't tell us anything. Are you going to..."

Marik paused, then nodded. He ought to try - she deserved that, at least. "How much do you know?"

"He was duelling Yugi Motou, and when he lost, he died. But there were no signs that he'd suffered a heart attack or anything - nothing was wrong with his health and stuff. He just kind of..." she broke off, taking a shaky breath.

"Do you blame Yugi?"

"No. My father does - he doesn't know who else to blame, and he wants to blame _someone_. But I don't. Mum isn't sure what to think."

"They shouldn't. I can tell you for a fact that he didn't do it. He's the kindest soul you'd ever meet. He blames himself, but he's not at fault."

"...you know him well, don't you?"

"Yes. He saved my life." _Well, his alter ego saved my soul. Same thing, really._

Marik paused, then pulled the Millennium Rod out of his bag. "Do you know anything about these? The Millennium Items?"

Akira paused. "It sounds familiar. There might have been an exhibition in the museum which mentioned them once."

"Did Tadako ever talk about them?"

"No, never."

"They're thousands of years old, and they have unusual powers. Dangerous powers, in the wrong hands." He paused, wondering which one to use as an example. The necklace. The necklace was the least harmful. "The Millennium Necklace, for example, gives the wearer the ability to see into the future."

Akira blinked, a little stunned. "How..."

"Ancient Egyptian Shadow Magic."

"...is that what you think killed my brother?"

Marik nodded. "People with a millennium item have the power to initiate things we call Shadow Games. Sorcerers would play them to test each other's skills where they wouldn't be interrupted, in Egypt, thousands of years ago. Anything can be turned into a Shadow Game, from World of Warcraft to Go Fish. A punishment is dealt to the loser, which normally results in them being in a coma, or death."

The girl nodded slowly, trying to take all of this in, not sure what to believe. "You think the game he played with Yugi was a shadow game?"

"Yes. I'm certain of it."

Her eyes widened. "Then...then Yugi must have done it! Who else-"

Marik was already shaking his head. "But Yugi isn't in possession of a Millennium Item anymore."

"Anymore?"

"He used to have the Millennium Puzzle. But he never set out to kill anyone. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

Marik almost facepalmed. _Should not have said that._ "It's...a really long story."

"Please?"

Marik sighed. "The Millennium Puzzle used to contain a spirit - the spirit of an ancient pharaoh, Atem. He'd possess Yugi a fair bit and play card games in his place - he kept them both alive. I owe that spirit a debt I'll never be able to repay. He prevented my death in the Battle City final." _Not sure if I deserved that._

"So...Atem killed people?"

"One person, that I know of. I hear he drove a few people insane a long time before that. Something happened to Maximillion Pegasus pretty soon after they duelled, though it might not have been him...either way, from what I heard, he had it coming. Atem's saved many more lives than he's ended."

"Who did he kill?"

Marik guessed 'the manifestation of my lifelong hatred for him' would only complicate the situation further. "The person who killed my father."

"Oh. Wait, let me get this straight...Yugi Moto used to have an Egyptian Artefact which contained a spirit which possessed him, and played these games which killed Tadako?"

"Yep."

Akira looked a like she wanted to crack up. Just a bit. "You say that like it's completely normal."

"For me, it is. My family guarded these items for thousands of years."

"What happened to Atem?"

"He moved onto the afterlife last year. By choice. Yugi beat him in a duel."

Akira's eyes were gleaming with curiosity now. "What are the other items? What do they do?"

"There's seven," Marik said slowly. "The puzzle, the key, the scales, the ring, the eye, the necklace, and this rod. Hey all have different qualities, besides starting shadow games. Like the necklace seeing into the future."

"Did any of the others have a spirit in them?"

Marik thought of Bakura, and nearly groaned aloud. "The ring. That guy is bloody complicated. We never knew his actual name - we just give him the same name as the guy who he possessed - Bakura. He was serious trouble. Spent most of his time trying to get revenge on Atem. We were allies for a while."

"Allies?"

"I haven't been terribly fond of Atem all my life. Before he killed the thing that killed my father, I blamed his family for...stuff."

"What-"

"I'd rather not explain," he said quickly. "I don't like to think about it. I'm kind of ashamed of it."

"Oh. Alright. What happened to Bakura?"

"He should be dead." That wasn't exactly untrue. It wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't a lie either. "Again, he's a complicated guy. But I doubt he had anything to do with your brother."

Akira nodded, seeming satisfied. "So...you have to have a Millennium Item to play a Shadow Game?"

"Yeah."

"So, who had them when Tadako died? Because then _they_ must have-"

"That would be me. Which is why everyone's so confused."

"...oh. Maybe not then."

They both looked up as the doorbell rang. "Is that your parents?" Marik asked.

"Yeah. I'll get it - maybe you should wait here."

"That might be best."

Akira put down her tea and rushed to the door, explaining the situation. Marik tried to listen in, but she was speaking very quickly - he only caught 'Marik Ishtar', 'Investigation', and 'Tadako''. She hadn't mentioned the shadow game stuff. _Good. I have no intention of trying to explain that to any adults. No imagination whatsoever._

Marik stood up as soon as they came into view. Akira's mother was European - now that he knew, he could see her chocolate brown eyes in Akira. She had dirty blonde hair pulled back into a Dutch braid, and a light figure - Marik had a feeling she might have been very pretty when she was younger. Her father had relatively long hair, for a guy, not that Marik could talk. It was thick, a little wavy, and came to perhaps halfway down his neck, parted very slightly to the side. Marik bit his lip, wishing he could remember their names. Sato might have been the father's given name - he remembered that because he read it at Seto the first time. All he remember noticing about her mother's name was that it wasn't Japanese, but for some reason the word Gallifrey wouldn't leave his mind though. He blamed Ryou for his recent Doctor Who obsession.

"Kioru-san," he said quickly, hoping he'd got his honorifics right. He really had no idea. "I'm really sorry for coming in while you weren't here."

"Not at all, Mr Ishtar," Probably-Sato replied. "Akira tells me you're here about Tadako."

"Yes. And just Marik would be great."

The mother nodded, glancing at Akira. "Would you like to speak in private?"

"No, no. Akira can stay. I just want to ask a few questions about the weeks leading up to the tournament."

Sato frowned. "You're very young."

"I have specific expertise and experience in the kind of game your son engaged in." He glanced at Akira, who lifted a finger to her lips - before he could really register it was there, it was gone.

"So we've heard. You're a duel monsters champion. But that doesn't mean you're qualified to lead a murder investigation."

"With all due respect, I was flown over here from Egypt on a private KaibaCorp jet for a reason, Kioru-san." The atmosphere in the room changed almost instantly as Marik lowered his voice, and went on. "I've watched people I care about come close to death playing these card games. I'm qualified."

Sato didn't look satisfied, but the mother rested a hand gently on his wrist, saying, "We'll do anything we can to help."

Marik had to stifle a sigh of relief. "Thankyou. I understand why you're skeptical, but I really am here to find out why your son died."

"He's a really good duelist too," Akira put in. "He nearly beat Yugi."

Marik shrugged. "Considering the circumstances of that particular duel I'm glad I didn't win."

Sato still looked uncertain about both Marik's age and his cryptic reply, but he simply asked anyway, "Do you think Yugi is guilty?"

"It's more likely _I'm_ to blame than Yugi is. No, he's definitely innocent."

"What makes you so sure?"

Marik shrugged. "I know him well. He's not that kind of person. Besides, he has no motive, and no way he _could_ have done it."

Akira's mother nodded. "What is it that you wanted to know?"

Marik paused. "Did anything strange happen, in the weeks leading up to the duel? Was Tadako acting differently?"

Akira answered quickly. "He was excited. He knew he was going to lose, but he was really looking forward to the duel. I suppose he spent more time than usual going through his deck, but that's not too surprising."

"He ate a bit less, too," Sato admitted. "Freya kept encouraging him to eat, but I think he was just nervous."

Freya. Gallifreya - that must have been how he tried to remember.

He continued to ask questions, about how long Tadako had been playing the game, whether he was at all interested in ancient history, and so on. He finished with, "Did he have any rivals?"

"No-one that would want him dead," Akira said firmly. "But there was this guy called...oh, whats-his-name. We never met him. He's also Japanese, and he lives in the city. He and Tadako were rivals - they ended up competing in the final of almost every regional competition. Sometimes the semi-final if they were in the same pool."

"Who won more often?" Marik asked.

"It was pretty even. God, what was his name..."

Sato frowned. "What, that Hiroki guy?"

"Yeah, him! Hiroki Hirata."

Marik nodded, standing up. "Right. Thanks so much for this."

All three of them nodded, smiling, rising also. "Whatever we can do to help the investigation," Freya said warmly.

Akira glanced at the floor, fidgeting. Marik frowned - something looked wrong. "Have I missed anything."

Akira smiled at the floor, then looked up at him hopefully. "Um...can I see your deck?"


	6. Chapter 5

When Marik returned to the apartment, Yami Bakura was already back - apparently, he'd been out.

"What exactly were you doing?" Marik had asked, while trying to get the KaibaCorp computer that had been dropped off in his room, (this was probably the only time Kaiba was going to do him any favours, and he was _definitely_ taking advantage of that,) to play the DVD with footage of Yugi and Tadako's match.

Bakura just shrugged. Marik took that as a sign that he wasn't going to get anywhere, and quickly gave up. Currently, he _still_ was trying to work the bloody DVD.

KaibaCorp had made this particular kind of laptop as a thin and sleek as possible. Which would have been great, if you didn't have to plug in the DVD player manually, with USB cable. It also would have been a huge bonus if Marik knew what a USB cable was.

As Marik had slowly realised how much knowledge he lacked in terms of modern technology throughout the past year, he'd quickly decided it was one of the many problems that came with living underground for most of his life, and was a bloody nuisance. He had a feeling Bakura probably knew how to get the thing working, but liked to watch Marik squirm. Still, he wasn't completely certain he'd do any different if their places were switched.

"It's stands for 'Universal Serial Bus'...what the hell does that even mean?!"

Bakura shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I'm dead."

"Well...screw you. Not literally. Maybe I need to install some sort of software..."

The spirit rolled his eyes. "Okay, this is getting painful. You don't need any software. Just stick the silver bit in the computer."

"But...where?!"

"In the side."

"I tried in the side! Maybe I should remove the keyboard..."

Bakura's eyes widened. "Trust me, you don't want to remove the keyboard. Look for a hole that fits the silver bit on the end of the cord." He said it slowly, being careful to enunciate each word, as if talking to a child.

Marik pressed his lips together. "I already did."

"Were you putting it in upside-down?"

"I tried both ways."

Bakura sighed heavily, his face the picture of exasperation, and came closer, examining the Laptop's side. "There's a USB port there."

"A USB what-now?"

"A port. The thing the USB goes in. Honestly Marik..."

"You can stop gloating. Like you said, you're dead."

"Fine. But there's still a hole where you can stick the USB in, though it's currently occupied by the mouse."

Marik frowned, lost. "Oh."

Bakura took a deep breath. "Take...the mouse...out."

"But there's no cord attached to the mouse..."

"That's because it's a wireless mouse, you nimrod! Take out the little rectangle that's in the USB hole!"

Marik blinked, then pulled out the plastic thing with the blinking light, and put the silver thing on the end of the cord for the DVD player into the hole. The computer made a noise. "Is that good?"

Bakura closed his eyes, trying not to explode with frustration. "Yes. That's good. Now, press the button on the side of the DVD player, take the disc out of the box, press it into the circular bit until something clicks, then push the slot back into the DVD player. And _don't touch the USB cable_."

Marik carefully followed Bakura's instructions, and something that looked vaguely like Windows Media Player appeared, but it was probably a schmancy KaibaCorp version. Bakura took another deep breath. "Good. Now press play."

Marik nodded, and went to move the mouse sitting on the table, but the cursor didn't move. "Um, the mouse isn't..."

"That's because you unplugged it! Move the cursor around with the pad in front of the keyboard, then tap it to click! God, how outdated _is_ that computer you use in Egypt?"

"Um..."

"Actually, I don't want to know. Just...just hit play."

Marik swallowed, did as Bakura asked, and the duel between Tadako and Yugi started to play out.

The two duellists were on an elevated stage, both using duel disks and holograms. Tadako was a relatively tall teen, with slightly slanted, almond shaped eyes, glasses, thin lips, and dark, thick, close-cropped hair, wearing jeans, and a t-shirt depicting the art for the card 'spellbinding circle'. Yugi complimented Tadako's shirt, and Tadako just looked a bit overwhelmed. They got to their places, and the duel begun.

Tadako gave Yugi the first move, looking about as confident as one can when duelling the King of Games. Yugi summoned a monster in face down defence mode, placed one trap card (presumably) face down, and ended his turn.

Tadako responded quickly. "I draw!"

He took a moment to consider his cards. Marik quickly grabbed a sheet of paper Shota had given him the day before, which had the details of each of their hands at each point in the game. "Face-Off, Negate Attack, Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit (6/2100/1400), Reload, and Mirage Dragon (4/1600/600)," he murmured to Bakura, who nodded.

"I summon Mirage Dragon (4/1600/600) in attack mode-"

He was cut off as Yugi flipped his trap card over. "I activate Chain Destruction: when a monster with 2000 or less attack is summoned, I can target one of them and destroy all cards with that name in its controller's hand and main deck. Do you have any other Mirage Dragons?"

Tadako bit his lip, and started to search for another one that was in his deck. Marik whistled. "Yugi's already got the upper hand. The crowd's going crazy."

Bakura shrugged, simply narrowing his eyes, gazing critically at the screen. "Mirage Dragon had a good effect too - it means the opponent can't use traps."

Tadako looked relatively unfazed nonetheless. "Okay. I place two cards face down. End of turn."

Yugi drew another card. "I summon Kaiser Sea Horse (4/1700/1650)..." he eyed Tadako's face down card, and paused for a short moment before going on, "In attack mode, and carry out a direct attack on your life points."

Tadako gritted his teeth as his life points dropped to 2300, then smoothly drew, pressing his lips together nervously. Marik frowned. "Wasn't Negate Attack face down? Why did he let it go through?"

Bakura shrugged. "Maybe he's saving it for more desperate circumstances."

Marik's eyes flicked to his page - his new card was Darkstorm Dragon (8/2700/2500). But he had no way to summon it yet.

"I special summon Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit (6/2100/1400) - it's effect, is if my opponent has monsters on their side of the field, but I have none, I can special summon it from my hand. Then, I attack Kaiser Sea Horse (4/1700/1650) with the Heiratic Dragon."

Yugi shook his head. "I have Kuriboh in my hand. I use its quick-play effect to cancel all battle damage."

Tadako nodded, Kaiser Sea Horse disappeared from the field, and his turn ended. Yugi went on: "I draw, then summon Electromagnetic Turtle (4/0/1800) in defence mode. Turn end."

"I draw."

Then the camera cut out, and static filled the room.

Marik's eyes widened. "What?!"

And in a split-second, it was back, and Tadako was speaking.

"I use Soul Exchange, meaning I can sacrifice one of your monsters, in order to summon one of mine - I tribute your face-down monster, along with Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit, and summon Darkstorm Dragon (8/2700/2500)!"

Yugi's eyes had gone hard, as if he was suddenly unsure, and on edge. He looked uncomfortable, but he went on anyway. "Not so fast. I activate this trap card, Mystical Refpanel, which means I take the effect of Soul Exchange, before you can summon your Darkstorm."

Marik narrowed his eyes. "Yugi's got no reason to look that concerned about the match...you think he's figured out this is a shadow game?"

Bakura nodded. "That would make sense."

Yugi went on, hesitating, but only a little - you wouldn't notice if you weren't looking for it. "I tribute your Heiratic Dragon, alongside Electromagnetic Turtle and the face down card, Big Shield Gardna, and summon Obelisk the Tormentor (12/4000/4000)!"

Tadako took a deep breath as the giant blue hologram materialized. He was speechless for a moment, before Yugi reminded him, "It's still your turn."

He had 2300 life points, two traps, and no monsters. This wasn't looking good. He glanced down at his cards. "I'll start by using the spell card, Reload, discarding my hand and drawing a new one."

He got rid of the cards in his hand, Reload and Darkstorm Dragon, and drew two more, heaving a sigh of relief. "Thank God...I play Swords of Revealing Light - your monsters can't attack for three turns."

Bakura whistled. "Lucky draw. What's his other card?"

"Axe of Despair, an equip spell card."

Yugi nodded, and drew. There was something like respect, but also concern in his eyes - maybe it was the fact that Tadako had the courage to keep going in this situation. Or maybe it was Tadako's obliviousness regarding the game's true nature. "I don't have any moves now," he murmured. "I end my turn."

Tadako took a deep breath, and drew. Relief flooded his expression again. Apparently he was having incredible luck. "I special summon another Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit (6/2100/1400), and equip it with the Axe of Despair, bringing it's attack to 3100."

Yugi nodded, and drew. "I place a card face down, and end my turn."

Tadako closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. This was his last turn before Obelisk could attack. "I draw."

The entire arena went quiet. Tadako looked at the card, and grinned with disbelief. "I use the equip spell card, Mage Power! The monster I equip this with gains 500 attack points for each spell or trap I control - I control four spell and trap cards, so Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit's attack is raised to 5100!"

Marik's eyes widened. "No!"

"Heiratic Dragon, attack Obelisk the Tormentor!"

Yugi flipped his face down card over. "I activate mirror force-"

" _I_ activate Face-Off, which cancels the activation of your trap, and destroys the card! This might mean my dragon's attack falls to 4600 now that I only have three trap and spell cards under my control, but it can _still_ defeat your Obelisk!"

The crowd was going nuts as Obelisk began to dematerialize, and Yugi's life point dropped to 3400. "Well played."

Tadako grinned like the overexcited fanboy he was.

"However, I'll use a spell card, Monster Reborn, to bring back Obelisk."

Tadako's shoulder's sagged a little, but the crowd was ecstatic.

"I'll also place a card face down. End of turn."

Tadako drew again, so that he had one card in his hand once more. "I use the spell card, Poison of the Old Man, and inflict 800 life points of damage to you, then I end my turn." He didn't attack, however, probably wary of the trap card Yugi had just put down.

Yugi gritted his teeth as his life points dropped again, to 2600, but went on strongly. "I draw, and play the spell card Graceful Charity, in order to draw three cards, then discard two cards."

Yugi discarded the two remaining cards in his hand, then picked took new ones from the top of his deck. "Then summon the Celtic Guardian (4/1400/1200), place another card face down, and end my turn."

Tadako nodded, and drew. That face down card was teasing him. It was clear he wanted to attack Celtic Guardian - if it got through, he'd take out all of Yugi's life points and win the duel - but he knew Yugi was smarter than that. So Tadako left it for another turn, with Swarm of Crows (5/1200/1800) in his hand.

Bakura continued to gaze critically at the screen. "How much longer does this go on?"

Marik felt a little sick as he checked how much time was left. "The video ends in about a minute."

The starfish-haired duelist drew again, examined his hand, bit his lip, then spoke. "I equip Obelisk with the spell card, United we Stand - this means that Obelisk gains 800 attack for each monster I control, and I control two monsters. Obelisk's attack points now sit at 5600. I also activate the trap card Rising Energy, which means that for one turn, I can choose a monster to give an extra 1500 attack points, so Obelisk's attack becomes 7100. The difference between Obelisk's attack and Heicratic Dragon's attack is 2500, taking out your remaining life points. But seriously."

Tadako looked up from the field, and Yugi grinned at him. "Good duel."

Tadako, again, played the excited fanboy, ducking his head awkwardly. Marik sure felt sorry for him.

The hologram made the attack, and Tadako stumbled back. His life points hit zero, and he collapsed. There was silence for a moment. The video stopped as he heard Akira yell her brother's name.

Marik and Bakura sat in silence for a moment, until the spirit muttered, "Poor bugger."

"Yeah...hey, where are you going?"

Bakura had stood up, and was pacing around the room. "When the camera cut out, did the video skip over anything that happened on the sheet?"

Marik rewound the video, and checked. "No, it didn't miss anyone's turn. It looks like the tape just failed to capture anything besides static and stuff for a couple of seconds."

Bakura came back to the computer. "Right. Now play it from the point where it cuts, and give me Tadako's deck list."

Marik did as Bakura asked, and he watched it intently until the end again. Marik paused it before Obelisk's final blow, not wanting to watch that again. "See anything?"

"Tadako drew perfectly every time, after that break in the video. Someone was definitely manipulating that duel."

"No really, Sherlock? I never would have figured, considering someone _died_."

Bakura massaged his forehead. "There's no shadow miasma, which makes sense, because you'd only see it if you're playing. And neither of their appearances change at all. But that doesn't mean..."

Marik shrugged. "That doesn't mean what?"

Bakura frowned, and shook his head. "Wait, aren't you meant to be investigating this murder?"

"Yeah, but I'd appreciate some help."

"Wait, really? Who are you and what have you done with Marik?"

Marik sighed, resting his head on one hand. "Look, you were saying before?"

"It doesn't mean Tadako wasn't being possessed."

"You think we can rule out Yugi being the possessed one then?"

"Probably. He'd know, after all. He's had practise. But he seemed to know something was off." Bakura paused. "Also, if Tadako was drawing perfectly, whoever made this happen probably wanted Yugi to lose."

"Yeah. I'm going to head outside. You coming?"

Bakura shook his head. "No, you go. I'll keep watching this over."

Marik didn't hesitate as he dashed out the door. As soon as he got into the corridor, he leaned against the corridor, and heaved a sigh of relief. He _never_ wanted to watch that again. To watch someone die. It brought back memories he wished he could erase - memories of his alter ego killing his father. (Which is ironic, because he _still_ didn't actually remember it, but in a way, that was worse.)

He went down to the ground floor, and as he walked out the door of the building, his phone buzzed. It was the group chat - a message from Jonouchi; _Hey guys, want to get together tomorrow to talk about stuff? It's be great to catch up with you, Marik._

Kaiba, as always, was quickest to type a reply. _That's actually not a bad idea. I underestimated you, Katsyua._

Marik rolled his eyes, and began to type. _All for that, Jonouchi. Where did you want to meet?_

Ryou got in next. _What about the café just near my apartment?_

Before long, they'd all said that worked for them. And apparently, some girl called Taylor that Jonouchi knew might come too. Marik locked his phone and put it back into his pocket. _At least I have something to look forward to tomorrow..._


	7. Chapter 6

When he came into the café, Marik wasn't quite sure what to expect. He also wasn't sure if Bakura coming was the best idea, but the spirit was determined, and though Marik could probably stop him via some form of blackmail and/or the millennium items, he really couldn't be bothered. But at least others couldn't see him, though Ryou kept looking behind him, saying that he had a 'bad feeling' whenever anyone asked why.

He was the last one to arrive - even Jonouchi had managed to get there before him. "Hey, guys."

Anzu's expression brightened. "Marik!"

Marik clenched his fist, biting his lip. _I swear, if the word 'friend' comes out of her bloody mouth..._

To everyone's advantage, it didn't, so Marik sat down with the others and ordered a latte.

He also hadn't been sure what to expect regarding Taylor - she was fairly tall, a good inch or so taller than Marik, wearing a tank top, jean shorts, canvas shoes, and a snapback, her thick, rusty ginger hair in a pixie cut. A plaid jacket was tied around her waist. She reminded Marik of a fox; sharp, quick-witted, intelligent. She was apparently an older sister of one of Shizuka's friends, and knew Tadako well.

After about 10 minutes of small talk and such, Ryou finally asked, "So how's the investigation going?"

The table fell silent and looked expectantly at Marik. Dead Bakura muttered, "Badly..."

 _Oh, shut your face._ "Um...slowly," he replied.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "You have started, right?"

"Of course I have! It's just..." he trailed off, searching for the words he needed. "Nothing makes sense. I can't find any plausible culprits. Tadako wasn't acting strangely at all during the duel, no-one but me had access to the Millennium Items..."

Ryou placed a hand gently on Marik's forearm. "What _have_ you found?"

Marik sighed. "Well, the duel was definitely being manipulated. And his sister's really sweet." He sighed, frustrated. "I haven't talked to this Hiroki guy that Tadako's sister mentioned yet, and if I don't find anything there, I have no idea what I'll do."

Jonouchi paused. "You went and saw Yugi, right?"

Marik nodded.

Anzu, Honda and Jonouchi all (probably unconsciously) leant forward. "How is he?"

The former tomb-keeper paused. "Shaken, but uninjured. He'll be fine."

"You've looked over the Millennium Items for anything weird, right?" Ryou checked.

"Yeah, that's all fine."

Jonouchi slapped Marik's back, making him jump. "You'll get it eventually, Man. Hey, anyone for DDR?"

Anzu sprung out of her seat before anyone could protest, and most of the others followed. Bakura (the spirit) grabbed Marik's shirt, and muttered, "Stay over here a minute."

Honda glanced over his shoulder. "Marik, you coming?"

Marik glanced behind him, and Bakura shook his head. "Two seconds. I'm just going to get a glass of water."

Honda shrugged, and joined the others. Marik glared at Bakura. "What is it?"

"Taylor. I don't trust her."

Marik blinked. "Huh?"

"She keeps looking straight at me. In the eye."

"Hm..."

"Also, the timing. Someone dies, and suddenly she takes an interest being trusted by her sister's friend's brother? Come on, how far-fetched is that?"

Marik tipped his head to one side a little. "She could like Jonouchi."

"She said she had a girlfriend."

"Oh, right. Fine, I'll keep an eye on her."

Bakura nodded. "You have the rod on you, right?"

"Yup."

"Good."

Marik turned around, grabbed some water from a tray near the wall, then moved over to the others, where Anzu was murdering Jonouchi at DDR, hardly breaking a sweat.

Jonouchi however, resembled Italy in the Hetalia World Twinkle ending theme; completely incompetent at dancing. He kind of looked like he was having a fit of some sort. "What the hell is the difficulty for this one?!"

"Normal."

"That's easy for you to s-" he started, then broke off, losing his balance again.

In another 40 seconds, Jonouchi's torture was over. Honda grinned at Ryou. "What's the next matchup going to be?"

The white-haired boy narrowed his eyes, skimming them over his friends. "Kaiba and Jonouchi."

"What?! I'm not going the second time in a row!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Damn, I was looking forward to crushing you, Weasel."

Ryou shrugged. "Fine. Marik, and...Taylor."

Taylor's eyes widened. "But-"

"It's tradition," Honda said easily. "Everyone has to play DDR here at some point."

Taylor sighed, tossed her cap to Jonouchi, who caught it easily, and got onto the machine. Marik hesitated, then did the same. He could practically feel the spirit glaring at him, accusing him of not being careful, but Marik ignored it. _How the hell would she make DDR a shadow game? Besides, we have no solid evidence that she's even done anything._

He stepped onto the platform, and let Taylor select the song, on the condition that it wasn't the Levan Polka, because that would _definitely_ be stuck in his head for weeks. She picked an upbeat Miku Hatsune song he vaguely recognised, but couldn't put his finger on the title. _Must've played it with Ryou before_.

The song started relatively slowly, with the steps not splitting the beat up too much, only one foot moving at a time. But each chorus, things kind of exploded, and Marik was fumbling, jumping around everywhere the first time. But Taylor, though she was sweating a little, was managing to catch every one, even if her timing went a little out.

Thankfully, nothing terribly weird happened, but Taylor kept looking over her shoulder. Whenever Marik looked around too, he realised she _was_ looking at Bakura. _Definitley asking her about that later_.

She won, in the end, which didn't come as much of a surprise to Marik. "Good game," she grinned, offering a hand to Marik, who took it. He could almost _feel_ Bakura rolling his eyes at the friendly gesture.

After a good half-hour more of rounds, (in which he beat Honda, but lost to Ryou and Anzu,) Anzu, Kaiba and Honda had to leave, and Ryou went back upstairs to his place, leaving Jonouchi, Taylor and Marik to keep at the old arcade games - a pinball machine, and space invaders were the only decent ones that worked, though there was also a first person shooter marked 'out of order'. Bakura continued to lurk in the back corner.

Taylor was seriously good at both of those games too. "You'd give Yugi a run for his money for sure," Jonouchi said as she finished her second round of pinball.

Bakura and Marik exchanged a glance. Bakura looked suspicious, but Marik was trying to convey the phrase, _she's good at arcade games, so what?_

Eventually, Jonouchi had to go too - apparently he was meant to be going to a maths tutorial. Marik frowned as he walked out the door. "Since when did he care about maths..."

An awkward silence fell between the remaining pair. Taylor's gaze fell on the first person shooter. "Say, wonder if I could fix that..."

Marik frowned. "How-"

"My uncle owns an arcade. I'll ask the guy over there..."

Taylor moved off, and suddenly Bakura was beside him again. Marik jumped, then slapped him. "Stop doing that!"

Bakura shrugged. "You should use the key on her."

Marik opened his mouth to argue, then realized that any argument sticking up for ethics and such would be pretty weak, coming from him. Instead, he folded his arms. "I don't want to antagonize her. We literally just met her."

"Marik, she can _see me_. And doesn't the gaming thing remind you of anyone?"

He frowned. "What, do you mean Yugi?"

Bakura nodded. Marik considered this for a moment. "Her uncle _does_ own an arcade. It would make sense if she was good at them anyway..."

"But alongside the seeing spirits thing? Why the hell are you holding back?"

Marik just shrugged. Bakura rolled his eyes, and went on. "On that note, why aren't you using the Millennium Items more? Wouldn't wearing the necklace be a smart idea? Or just holding up the scale to suspects and see if it tips?"

"Fine, fine! I think I'll pass regarding the eye, though..."

"Yeah, fair enough."

"But," he said, narrowing his eyes, "I don't have the key here. Next time I see her though, I will."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "If you say so..."

Taylor came back with a box of screwdrivers of various sizes, and a cup of coffee. She looked at Bakura, then at Marik, but said nothing. It struck Marik that she probably didn't know he could see Bakura too. She shook her head, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "You do want to try this one out, right?"

Marik nodded. "Sure. I might actually have a chance at this one."

Taylor grinned. "I wouldn't bet on it." She paused, kneeling down to start working on the machine. There was an awkward pause. Taylor started whistling "Pinball Wizard".

She broke off after a minute or so, saying, "By the way..."

"Yeah?"

"Is it true you were the one that stole the Millennium items from the museum in Egypt?"

Marik frowned. _That_ was unexpected. "What do you know about that?"

Taylor shrugged as she pulled a cover off the back of the arcade game, exposing a heap of coloured wires.. "I saw it somewhere. Maybe on Buzzfeed. Is that how you got them?"

"Yeah, that was me."

Taylor nodded. "What exactly _are_ the millennium items?"

Marik narrowed his eyes. Surely this had already been explained to her? "It's complicated. Basically, they're dangerous."

She nodded again, opening the box of screwdrivers. "Uh-huh...so why have you got one here?"

He glanced down at the rod, in his hand. "Old habits die hard, I guess. And for self-defence."

She paused. "Weird question, but is the ring in Japan?"

Something clicked in Marik's brain. Okay, so she _definitely_ knew a thing or two about the Millennium Items. She might even be connecting the ring to the spirit. "They're all in Japan," he said slowly, his voice tense. "Why?"

Taylor frowned, and bit her lip. "It's a long story."

"Does it have anything to do with the spirit next to me?"

Taylor's eyes widened. "You knew he was-"

"Why do _you_ know?" he said, folding his arms.

Taylor sighed, giving in. "Yeah, kind of a long story. We should sit down again."

Marik nodded, and pulled up a chair. Taylor played with a rubber band on her wrist nervously. Marik paused, then asked, "Mind if I write this down?"

Taylor frowned. "Why-"

"Because I'm investigating a murder, and even if you didn't do it, which I don't think you did, I need to have something to show Shota, the DCPD person I'm reporting to. If you know anything about the Milennium Items, it could be helpful."

She looked a bit bewildered, but didn't protest as Marik pulled out a notebook and pen. "Wait, how does this have anything to do with Tadako?"

Marik frowned. "You do know how he died, right? Shadow games?"

"I guess that's possible...but how can you be so certain?"

Bakura spoke in this time. "Yugi's played a lot of them in the past. That's why people think he's guilty."

Taylor jumped. "Wait, it can talk?"

The spirit rolled his eyes, glancing at Marik. "Observant one, isn't she?"

"Give her a break, Fluffy. She has information."

"Don't call me Fluffy."

"Only if you don't interrupt."

Taylor blinked. "You two..."

"Know each other? Yeah, you could say that," Marik said. "Tell me everything you know about the Millennium Items."

Taylor nodded. "The scales were in my father's family for generations, much like Ryou had the ring. No-one really knows how we got it - we just did. Whoever was the heir to it was always expected to be as moral and just as possible, so that it didn't tilt when it was close to them." She clenched her fists as she went on. "It was meant to be given to me next. But when I told Dad I had a girlfriend, he wouldn't let me have it. He said that my soul was corrupted, and I'd die if I ever used it."

Marik frowned. "But even if that was the case, surely you wouldn't be in any danger unless you used it on yourself?"

Taylor nodded. "Exactly. In reality, he just wanted an excuse to give it to my _perfect_ brother." She spat the word perfect, her voice laced with hate. "He's always got the top grades, he was planning to go to Stanford to do law, he spent his spare time helping the needy and donating to charity, but it was all to get his hands on the thing. But Dad didn't see through his act, so it was given to him. But as soon as Dad died, the bastard went and sold it for a huge sum of money, and we haven't seen it since."

Marik frowned. "How'd your Dad die?"

"Lung cancer."

"Oh. Sorry."

Taylor shrugged. "It was a while ago. But that's not what we're here to talk about, is it?"

Bakura watched the exchange calmly, silently. Marik nodded. "No, not really. How do you know Tadako?"

"We went to primary school together. I haven't seen him much since, but I still want to know how he died."

"Fair enough. One last question. Where were you on Wednesday the 22nd, from 1-4pm?"

Taylor responded instantly. "At home, with a cold. Not bad enough that I had to go to the doctor, but I stayed away from school on Wednesday and Thursday. I was watching the match on my laptop."

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "Can anyone back that up?

Taylor bit her lip. "My Mum works late, so that she can support us. I was home alone. My browsing history, I guess?"

Marik sighed. "But no one can prove you didn't leave the house and take the laptop with you."

"I-"

"I'm not saying you did, I'm just saying it's not looking great for you. You know how to use a Millennium Item, and you can't prove that you were where you were."

Taylor paused. "But the items were all in Egypt. With you."

Marik sighed. "Still. Keep your eyes open. I'm going to have to tell Shota everything."

Taylor bit her lip. "Can you leave out the girlfriend bit? I don't want to drag her into this..."

"Yeah, sure. One more thing - what's your brother's name?"

"Lucas Whitchurch. Is that it?"

Marik nodded. "Yeah, for now. Can I have a phone number in case something else comes up?"

Taylor nodded, grabbed the pen, and wrote it on his wrist. "Or you can find me through Jonouchi."

He nodded again, and stood up, his eyes falling on the set of screwdrivers. "Shall we see of that first person shooter's going to work?"


	8. Chapter 7

"You were too soft on her."

These, naturally, were the first words that came out of Bakura's mouth as they left the café/arcade. Taylor had gone home an hour or so before, but had left Marik to try and beat her pinball score. He hadn't managed it. Yet.

He folded his arms, his posture becoming defensive. "What, with the shooter, or interrogating her?"

Bakura scoffed. "Please, you didn't stand a chance with the shooter anyway. I'd hardly call your conversation an interrogation, though."

"She's innocent until proven guilty, and I don't think she is guilty," Marik insisted.

The spirit raised an eyebrow. "Really? You said so yourself. She knows how to use the items, and she has a rubbish alibi."

"But she still has no means or motive. She can't have actually accessed the items."

Bakura paused. "The Millennium Items have been used across long distances before. Like when Pegasus trapped Yugi's Grandpa in a video camera."

Marik frowned. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, it was pretty messed up. But it proves that they can manipulate things through technology and machines."

The duelist shrugged. "Fine, I won't rule it out."

They rounded a corner, turning into an alley - a shortcut to get back to the hotel. It was lined with bins, and there was a liquid Marik definitely didn't want to investigate in patches on the ground. Bakura wrinkled his nose. "I vote we go the long way."

"This is still faster-"

Marik broke off as he heard a faint squeak. He looked around, his eyes falling in a tiny, shaking kitten. "Aww," he said softly, not really realizing that he'd let the sound escape him. "She's adorable. Look, Bakura."

Bakura hardly turned around. "Marik, leave it. It's getting dark."

The kitten was relatively a small, sandy-coloured flecked tabby, with wide amber eyes. It cautiously emerged from the shadows, and rubbed up against Marik's leg, purring as the duelist scratched behind it's ear. Thankfully, it's fur was completely dry. "Bakura, I think she likes me."

"She'd be the first," the spirit replied. "How do you even know it's a she?"

"Just do. We should take her home. She'll starve out here."

"Marik, no. You'll become attached to it, and won't be able to take it back to Egypt."

Marik glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow. "If I can smuggle the Millennium Items halfway across the world, I can smuggle a kitten."

"You're not serious, are you?"

"I'm gonna call her Ra. Come on, Ra."

Bakura facepalmed. "Oh my god, you're serious."

The kitten let out a small, squeaky mew, and Marik 'awwww'ed again. The spirit sighed and came over, crouching beside Marik. "I guess she is kind of cute. This is still a really bad idea though."

Marik just waved one hand dismissively, the other one busy stroking the kitten. Bakura's gave softened. "I forget how young you are sometimes, Marik."

"I know right?" The duelist joked. "You don't look a day over 1000."

"Oh, shut up, you bloody twat."

Bakura stood up again, stretching. "Are we going to go this way then?"

"Guess so. Do you think we'll be able to get back before it starts raining again?"

"If we hurry."

Marik carefully placed the kitten, Ra, into his coat pocket, where she happily curled up and nestled against the warmth of his body, purring. "Do you really think Taylor's involved in all of this?" he asked.

"I'm not saying she killed him, but the chances that all of these factors coming together now was all just coincidence is pretty slim," Bakura said, narrowing his eyes.

Marik sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. It'd be a shame though. She seems really...moral, I guess. She wouldn't do anything she doesn't believe in, you know?"

Bakura paused. "You feel sorry about her because she lost her father too, don't you?"

He nodded. "We have a bit in common, don't we? We both have dead, douchey Dads."

Bakura actually grinned. "That just about sums it up."

They didn't end up making it back before it rained. Marik managed to keep Ra dry, but his hair and back were soaking. He placed Ra on his bed, but she jumped off immediately and made for the heater. Bakura watched her, amused. "This was a really bad idea."

Marik shrugged. "Whatever. Now I have two kittens."

"I am not a bloody-"

Marik rolled his eyes, and pulled out his laptop. "I'm going to see if there really is a Buzzfeed article on that museum break-in."

Bakura nodded. "Hey, did you think it was weird Taylor was wearing summer clothes in late autumn?"

Marik frowned, opening Chrome. "I didn't notice."

"Really? Oh well."

The spirit was gazing out the window, watching as raindrops collected on the outside. He jumped back as Ra leapt back beside him, sniffing his hand. Bakura frowned. "The cat can see me too?"

Marik grinned. "I'm not surprised. They say cats can see people's souls, after all. You're basically a soul."

Bakura nodded, watching in amusement as the cat batted at his hand. Like Marik, she was probably unable to feel it, but her paw made contact with it nonetheless. The spirit smiled a little. "Okay, I think I kind of like her."

Marik grinned. "Who's the soft one now?"

Bakura ignored him, playing with Ra. Marik had a feeling she was going to become Bakura's cat rather than his own, soon enough.

It turned out there _was_ an article on the break-in, making a joke about the fact that these items, despite the rumours that they can kill, have ended up in the hands of teenagers _again_. Also, the fact that no one seemed to care. Marik had to admit it was pretty amusing, but they got a lot of the facts wrong regarding what the items actually did. _All they had to do was talk to Ishizu._

He checked his phone one last time, yawning. It struck him that he should probably talk to Ishizu, but she worked really late - she was probably just finishing up. Ra had fallen asleep on Bakura's lap. Marik wondered briefly whether it would look like the kitten was floating to someone who couldn't see the spirit.

He considered looking up where Hiroki lived in one of the databases DCPD had given him access to, but decided to leave it until morning, taking off his shirt instead. "I'm going to have a shower, 'kay?"

"Do whatever you want. You could go stab someone for all I care."

Marik rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying. Don't come in."

The water came on. Ra began to amuse herself pawing Bakura's hair. Bakura rubbed her behind the ears.

"Oh, Bakura!"

The spirit rolled his eyes. "Yeah?"

"I think Tadako's funeral's tomorrow - we're going, right?"

Bakura nodded. "Yep. We'd be idiots not to. All sorts of people who knew him will be there."

"I think it was at 3pm...God, I don't have any black to wear...where do you think I can find a cheap button-up shirt?"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Marik. You'll have plenty of time."

"No I won't! I was going to interrogate Hiroki Hirata too, remember!"

"Leave Hiroki for another day," the spirit advised, looking around for something Ra could chase that wasn't his hair. Even if it was adorable. "You hardly got a _proper_ break today."

"You really think I should?" Marik called back, turning off the water.

"Sure. Go shopping. Learn to use a laptop."

Marik emerged from the ensuite, in his pyjamas, immediately making for his bag. "I swear I had some black jeans in here..."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Stop stressing. You'll find them tomorrow."

"Bakura, I _need_ them tomorrow."

"You can always try and steal some leather ones again. Because that went _so_ well last time."

Marik glared at him. "Not funny."

The spirit sighed. "Marik, just go to bed."

"But-"

"You're exhausted. Can't you see that?"

Marik nodded, giving in. "Alright."

* * *

One of the things about having a cat, is you have to feed it. This is considerably more troublesome if you're not _meant_ to have this cat in your hotel. Not to mention if you're not certain about what cats eat.

"Do cats like egg?" Marik asked as he shoved a plastic bag deep into his pocket.

Bakura shrugged. "Probably. I'd just grab some bacon though. They have fish down there too, right?."

Marik nodded. He planned to fill the bag with food for Ra, and smuggle it back upstairs. Bakura looked relatively unimpressed. "Or, you could just buy cat food."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get some when I go out next..."

"You're running a murder investigation - you're meant to be responsible!" the spirit chided.

Marik rolled his eyes. "Too early in the morning to be responsible."

Then he wandered off to the breakfast hall, whistling a tune Bakura didn't recognise. It was the Leven Polka, which had ended up stuck in Marik's head anyway. The leekspin version.

The hotel had a buffet breakfast, which came with most rooms. He enjoyed listening to other people staying here, talking about catching another flight, manga and anime, the families, YouTube, politics, fashion, their jobs, all sorts of things. But today, eavesdropping wasn't his main priority - it was cat food.

He strolled casually into the breakfast hall, one hand in his pocket, one holding the millennium rod. He doubted he'd need it, but if anyonestarted to care about him smuggling out food, a little brainwashing couldn't hurt. Not to mention what might happen if someone discovered Ra in his room. Then some _serious_ brainwashing would go down.

The hotel had both normal Japanese breakfast foods, (grilled fish, rice, miso soup, pickles, soy sauce,) and western foods, for foreigners. That was also relatively elaborate, with scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, potato jems, cereal, toast, teas, coffee and pastries. Marik always opted for the fish and stuff, though today he took a little more fish, and a little more bacon than usual. He considered pouring the milk into the bag, (after all, Canadians had milk in bags,) but realised if he did that, there wouldn't be anywhere for the actual food.

Getting the food away was no problem - he was good at stealing things. He'd had a lot of practice. Bakura was waiting for him, still looking unimpressed. "You did it?"

Marik placed the bag on the floor, and Ra dashed over to inspect it. "You doubted me?"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Not for a moment."

Marik paused. "Wait, you don't eat, do you?"

"Nope."

"Didn't think so."

An awkward silence fell between them. They were both leaning against the door. Bakura finally said, "Did you decide what you were going to do today, in the end?"

Marik nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to see if Hiroki turns up at the funeral. I do kinda need to buy that black shirt."

"Good idea. I don't think I'll join you."

The duelist's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What _do_ you do while I'm not around?"

Bakura looked away. "I...want to find out why I'm here. I should have died, after the whole Atem episode. Those fragments of soul were so small. I shouldn't be able to manifest like this..." he trailed off, glancing up at Marik again. "Someone's showed some mercy. And I need to know who."

Marik nodded, and placed one arm around him in an awkward side hug. "So you have your own mystery to solve?"

"Yeah. Thankfully it involves someone being less dead than they would have been otherwise, rather than a murder."

"Unfortunately that person happens to be a murderer himself."

Bakura waved a hand dismissively. "Minor details."

Marik shrugged, walking away, stretching his arms above his head. "I'll have to take Ra with me. Otherwise cleaners will find her."

The spirit nodded. "Good point. She's small enough to put into your jeans."

"Shall I meet you at the funeral?"

Bakura grinned, saying sarcastically. "You know me - give me a dead body and a heap of people we can interrogate and I'm on board."

Not for the first time, Marik wondered if keeping Bakura with him was a good idea after all.


	9. Chapter 8

No matter how hard he tried, apparently, Marik couldn't escape this investigation.

The morning had been going smoothly. Ra was asleep in the inside pocket of his jacket - a zip-up one with a hood, but because of the kitten, he'd left it un-zipped despite the cold. There had been no supernatural occurrences, and he hadn't got any texts or phone calls from anyone.

Then the media showed up.

He would never know how they knew he was here, shopping, searching for a relatively-formal black shirt. But as he entered the mall, two large cameras, and a short blonde woman with a microphone were waiting for him.

As soon as he came into view, the woman's eyes lit up with satisfaction, and she approached him in a brisk walk, moving to shake hands with him, her simple black heels clacking as she moved purposefully across the shop floor. Without hesitating, she outstretched her hand and took his in it, shaking it vigorously. "Marik Ishtar, right?"

Marik blinked. "Um...yes."

"Brilliant. My name's Lisa Newbury, and I'm a journalist with Domino City Local News. I have a few questions for you - this won't take a moment of your time."

"It already ha-"

"Is the statement that DCPD released about you being at the head of the investigation into the death of Kioru Tadako true?" She said this incredibly quickly, but very clearly, with perfect diction, before shoving the microphone in his face.

Marik blinked. "Yes, it is."

"But isn't Yugi Moto a rival of yours? Wouldn't you be glad to see him locked up - it would mean a lot more tournament wins for you, being one of the top ranked Duel Monsters players in the world."

Marik frowned, bewildered, then almost burst out laughing. "That's not how things work in the duelling community. Yugi Moto is a brilliant duelist, and it would be a shame to see him have to leave the Duel Monsters scene. Besides, he's hardly a rival - he's a close friend of mine. If you want to find a _rival_ of Yugi's, I suggest Seto Kaiba."

"The last time you were in Japan the Battle City tournament last year. You came second to Yugi - no resentment about that?"

"None whatsoever."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "So you're his friend - can Domino City trust that you won't be biased in his favour?"

Marik narrowed his eyes, his voice hardening. "I believe Yugi is innocent. He has neither means nor motive. But if he has done it, then he is no longer my friend. I will not be biased during this investigation."

"You're only seventeen - how can you possibly be qualified to lead a murder investigation, even if it's within your field?"

Marik paused, thinking about his answer then grinned. "Frankly, I have no idea. Ask DCPD - they brought me out here."

Lisa now looked thoroughly annoyed that she hadn't managed to get any dirt on him. Instead of actively pursuing this, she asked, "Making much progress?"

"I'm not allowed to give any details to the media."

"Hey, Marik!"

Marik looked up, shocked to see none other than Akira hurrying across the plaza, wearing a black trench coat (not a full-on Kaiba-style one, but a normal women's one) and skinny jeans. "Akira?"

Lisa looked around too, flicking her microphone off, narrowing her eyes. "Tadako's sister?"

The teenager nodded, walking right up to the journalist. "Yes. I believe you've invaded the privacy of those involved in this investigation enough. Kindly leave Ishtar-san alone."

Lisa shrugged, looking incredibly ticked off. "I was done here anyway. Come on guys." She waved to the cameramen, and they all left the mall, the blonde absolutely fuming.

Marik blinked at Akira. "Thanks. She was kind of annoying."

"Tell me about it. She's been trying to get interviews with my parents all week. What are you doing here?"

"Looking for a black shirt."

Akira frowned for a moment, then realised what it was for. "Thanks. You didn't have to come."

"No, I want to," he said earnestly. "Besides, I'll probably run into a lot of other people who knew him."

She nodded. "I was getting a dress, actually. It's been so weird at home, I left it to the last minute..."

Marik nodded. "No, I get it. Let's go together? I have no idea where to look."

"Yeah, that sounds good."

Akira switched the shopping bag she was carrying from her right hand to her left, and began to lead the way to one of the clothing stores. Marik stiffened as he felt Ra move in his pocket. _Maybe it's getting a bit hot for her._

"Akira?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we move to the side a moment?"

She frowned, confused. "Yeah, sure."

They moved to the wall, and Marik carefully drew the kitten out of his pocket. Akira's eyes widened. "Why do you have a-"

"She was a stray. Found her earlier."

The girl smiled broadly, then burst out laughing. "And you just picked her up?"

Marik grinned. "I don't pick just _anyone_ up."

"Wait, what?"

"Really? Too young then..."

Akira rolled her eyes. "I'm renowned for being innocent. Don't spoil it."

"Okay, okay!" He laughed, and Ra looked up at him quizzically, as if to say, _Where are we?_

Akira gave the kitten a brief scratched under the chin, but Ra quickly became sleepy again, so Marik gently put her in his pocket. Akira paused, then said, "It'd probably be a bit more comfortable in my bag. I bought a t-shirt earlier, so she can lie on that."

Marik nodded. "Yeah, that night be best."

They carefully concealed her in the folds of the shirt, then pushed their way back to the crowd. "Why's it so busy?" Marik asked.

"It's almost time for all the school formals and semi-formals. People are shopping for dresses and booking hair appointment and things."

The duelist frowned. "Sounds like a hassle."

"Yeah, that just about sums it up."

"Do you have a school dance this year?"

"No, but I'll have the first big one next year-"

She broke off as they rounded a corner. Akira pulled Marik aside this time, shrinking against the wall. Marik frowned. "Wha-"

"Shh. Wait until they pass - the big group of guys, headed by the tall one. Black hair with amber bits dyed in."

Marik frowned, craning his head to find the group that matched her description. "You know them?"

"You could say that."

He eventually spotted them, tossing a handball back and fourth to each other, hard and fast, laughing as people ducked and swerved to avoid it. He didn't relax until Akira did, heaving a sigh of relief. "Thank God..."

"Who were they?"

"Jerks, that's who. They terrorise every second person in the grades below them - they're two grades above me. Anyone with sense avoids them. I've stayed out of their way for years, and I intend to keep it that way."

Marik clenched his fists. "They're bullies?"

"Yeah, but I don't like the term. It has petty, school-kid connotations attached to it. Bullying is something kids do. These guys aren't kids - they're douches, plain and simple."

He glared in the direction they'd gone. "And no-one does anything about them?"

"No-one really can."

He sighed, unclenching his fists. If only they played card games. Then he'd show them. "So, shopping. Which way now?"

"Not far. I was thinking something relatively cheap, but stands a chance of lasting for a few years."

"Sounds good."

It wasn't long before they reached the shop Akira had in mind. It was divided into men's and women's clothes, (Marik was surprised, but in a good way, to see a woman with a pixie cut arguing with a salesperson about gender identity the uselessness of such social constructs as they walked in,) so they separated, agreeing to meet each other at the counter.

It didn't take long to find a suitable shirt - there wasn't a huge range of plain, black, smart-ish shirts there. He managed to find one that looked formal enough when he did up all the buttons, but he could also wear casually by undoing the top one. Furthermore, he could undo all of the buttons and expose his midriff.

He went off to find Akira again - maybe he could be of some help when she was buying her dress. (Probably not, but he had nothing to do while he waited, besides _Neko Atsume_.)

He wandered over to the women's section, the shirt draped over his arm. Akira was searching through a rack of dresses. "Had any luck?" he asked.

Akira looked up, surprised. "I've found a couple," she replied, gesturing to a dress that was hanging on the end of the rack. "That's the only black one they have in my size, so it'll have to do."

Marik glanced over at it. It had a slightly flared skirt with a slightly blue-purple sheen, probably coming to just above the knee. It also had a high waistline, and long sleeves with small cuts along the outside, giving it a slightly punkish sort of feel. He could see Yugi - no, Atem - wearing that if he were a girl. "It looks good," he commented.

Akira shrugged. "It's not exactly designed for a funeral - I'll wear this coat over those sleeves. I quite like it, though it's not what I'd normally wear. It's pretty inexpensive too."

They quickly paid for their things, and left. Marik offered to buy Akira some food with his KaibaCorp money, but she declined. "I'll see you this afternoon, okay? Thanks again for coming."

Marik nodded. "Yeah, sounds good."

* * *

It was actually a lovely day.

If Hollywood was anything to go by, you'd think that funerals were always held when it was raining. But no - the sun was shining, piercing the thick, Autumn foliage that covered the small garden where the funeral took place. A slight wind stirred the air, and everything smelled like leaf mould.

He felt so out of place, among people who actually knew Tadako - he almost regretted coming. Bakura hadn't arrived yet - Marik hoped he would soon. Even if it was Bakura, it would be nice to know _someone_ here. People were gathered in small groups, talking quietly. A lot of them kept on looking over at him. He could almost imagine what they were saying...he watched a pair of elderly women, imagining their conversation as they glanced back at him, constantly.

 _'Who is that kid? I've never seen him before. Did he know Tadako?'_

 _'He's the guy that's looking into the death. They think it might be murder.'_

 _'Murder! He was playing a card game! Stupid boy - always wasting his time with those things.'_

 _'I heard that kid over there is very good at them. He would know about it, I'm sure.'_

 _'But why is he here? Surely he doesn't think it was one of us!'_

' _I'm sure that's not right...'_

 _'Death by card games, what a stupid thing! Next they'll be telling me these kids are being possessed by their own hatred...'_

 _'And killing their fathers...'_

 _'With no memory of it...'_

 _'There never was a funeral...he never once saw natural light...'_

Ah. Now Marik remembered why he hated funerals. They reminded him of death. And death reminded him of a certain incident that ended the childhood he never really had.

Whenever he was in a 10 meter radius of a funeral, he felt like his father was watching. Blaming him for never mourning his death. All Marik regretted was that it had been at his hands. _Oh Ra, I'm so sorry..._

Suddenly he felt claustrophobic. People continued to stare and point at him. Fear started to creep up on him. Why was everyone looking at him? _They know. They all know. They all know I'm a monster._

A small part of him reminded him that he was being ridiculous. But he couldn't push this incredibly irrational, terrifying notion away. _I have to leave. I have to go-_

"Marik!"

 _God cards!_

He glanced in the direction of the voice, a classic deer-in-the-headlights expression plastered onto his face. Akira was rushing over, pushing between friends and relatives. "Marik, are you okay?"

Marik swallowed. "I should go."

"Marik, you look pale. Do you need to sit down?"

"I-I might do that, yeah..."

"Come on, let's sit over here..."

Akira guided him over to a stone bench, and carefully sat him down, placing herself next to him. "Nice shirt."

"T-thanks. Nice dress," he stammered, getting used to the rhythmic ebbing and returning of guilt and pain.

Akira frowned. "Are you okay?" she repeated.

"I don't deal with funerals well," he said quickly, a little breathlessly, staring at the two women, still glancing over.

 _'Is he okay?'_

 _'Card games - they're driving everyone crazy...'_

 _'Kids these days, killing family members then turning up to the funerals of people they never met, what has the world come to..."_

"Marik!"

He jolted out of his thoughts as he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Sorry, but you completely zoned out. What's going on?!"

Marik just shook his head. "I should leave..."

Akira grabbed his wrist as he tried to stand up, her gaze softening. "No, stay. You don't have to explain. But you're not unwelcome here, I promise."

"But-"

Akira smiled. "You don't like death, do you?"

"Not particularly."

The girl opened her mouth to say something more, then she spotted a spider in the trees above them. Marik tensed, but she just left her hands in her lap, gazing up at it. "I used to be really scared of those things. When we were little, I think we were seven and ten, Tadako had a pet spider. He told me I was being ridiculous, and made me keep it in my room for a month. So that I could get over my fear."

Marik had a feeling he would like where she was going with this. _Ra, I just want to go-_

"And I did. The only way to get over your fear is to face it. So stay, and face yours, yeah?"

Marik glanced at his feet. "I can't."

"Akira! Come here!"

Both of their gazes snapped towards Akira's mother as the girl was called over. Akira stuck her hand in the air to signal that she'd heard, then began to stand up, saying to Marik, "Your call. You might miss something important though."

Marik sighed, nodding as she went away, still thinking of leaving. He glanced over at the two women again - they had split up, joining larger groups.

He played with the Millennium Rod, which always sat in his hands. Quite frankly, he wanted to take the point and throw it into a tree. He resisted the urge however, sitting on the bench, gazing up at the spider. _If Akira could get over her fear when she was seven, I can start with mine at seventeen._

He stood up, and found a seat. Unlike most funerals in Japan, this one wasn't nearly as elaborate. Probably because no-one seemed to be particularly religious. There would be speeches, then a cremation. Marik could deal with that. Maybe. Hopefully.

Whenever the hushed whispers of the crowd, which he had to keep reminding himself had nothing to do with him and his own tragedies, started getting to him, he looked at the spider. _I can do this. I can do this._

In all honesty, Marik didn't pay attention to most of the speeches. Bakura finally turned up partway through Sato's and silently slipped through the crowd, sitting next to Marik. "Found anything?" he hissed.

 _Only soul-crushing regret._ "Not yet," he murmured. "Haven't had the chance."

"Is Hiroki here?"

"Haven't seen him."

"School friends?"

"I wouldn't know if they were friends or cousins...hang on, I want to listen to this one."

He trailed off as Sato finished, and Akira got up to speak. She met his eye, and smiled. _You stayed._

Marik nodded, glancing at the spider.

Akira held a sheet of paper in her hand. She hardly hesitated before speaking. "First, I want to thank everyone for coming. I know it was hard for some people-" she broke off briefly, looking at a few relatives who must have traveled a fair way, "for various reasons." Her gaze lingered on Marik, then she continued. "This is a very sad moment. But I can hear Tadako now, saying, 'Gee, Sherlock, who would have guessed!'"

Marik grinned, and there were a few laughs. Akira could hardly conceal a grin before going on. "He was definitely spirited, and always full of energy. I'd know - he was by brother, and a lot of that spirit and energy reached me in the form of pranks," she added, grimacing, humour still in her eyes. "But more than that, and more importantly, he was my friend. He was always there when I needed him. He was so patient with me - he would listen to me talk about something that couldn't interest him less for hours. He was always so kind, so eager to help. And...it's really strange, not having him around."

She took a deep, sharp breath, the paper in her hands shaking. She glanced at the spider. "I-I glance into his room, and I expect to see him. Then I wonder why it looks so clean. Like it hasn't been lived in for a while. Then I remember. I remember that's right."

Marik felt a hard lump form in his throat as Akira continued to speak. "I almost call out to let him know dinner's ready, then I remember. I search for him on the bus, coming home, to make sure he hasn't stayed behind playing cards in the library, _again_ , then I remember. I'm about to ask for help with homework, or ask if we can play cards, or just cry into his arms, then I remember. I remember that he's what I'm crying about, and I can't anymore, because he's not there, and he never will be again."

She sniffed, wiping the back of her hand across her now red nose, then kept going, grinning slightly. "But I know for sure, that if there was any way he wanted to go, if he had to go early, it was playing a card game against the King of Games. He'd have loved the mystery, the drama. Wherever he is, I believe he is not ashamed that he died playing a card game. I believe he would think the opposite."

She took a deep breath, then looked up at the sky. "Tadako, if you can hear me, I have one more thing to say. I love you, and I miss you. Goodbye, brother."

Then Akira made her way back to her seat. Marik wanted to clap, but he knew it wasn't really appropriate. A few more speeches later, all of them meaningless to him, the flame was lit, and the coffin burned. Everyone sat on the stone benches silently as embers flew into the air, and flames crackled. Slowly, people began approached the coffin to say a few words, moved to the side. As they were doing so, Marik caught Akira's eye, and tried to mime that he still had something to ask her. After a few attempts at getting the message across, she nodded. Then Marik stood up, and walked over to the flame. The heat warmed his skin as he gazed at the fire steadily.

 _I will find out who killed you, Kioru Tadako. I promise._


	10. Chapter 9

He gazed into the fire for another moment, then turned away. Akira and Bakura were waiting for him, but chances were Akira didn't know the latter even existed.

Her parents were standing off to the side - Freya had her hands around some sort of hot drink, sipping it slowly, her gaze unfocused. Sato was talking with friends and relatives, a rather brusque manner about him. A small group of teenage boys, probably Tadako's schoolmates, we're just gazing at the fire, silently. It suddenly occurred to Marik that they'd be about his age. He pushed one hand into the pocket of his jeans, holding the millennium rod (as always) in the other.

Finally he wandered over to Akira. Her face lit up slightly when she saw him. "I'm glad you stayed."

Marik nodded. "Me too."

Bakura frowned, shooting Marik a quizzical look. _You were going to leave?_

The duelist just ignored him. "Hey, Akira, I was wondering, were you filming Tadako's duel?"

Akira paused, then nodded. "Yes, on my phone. Tadako would have killed me if he didn't have it on video." She grinned, adding, "Then you'd have been investigating _my_ death."

A smile played at the corners of the duelist's lips. "Good think you did then. Do you think you could send it to me? I want to check something against the official copy..."

He glanced at Bakura, who nodded. They could both see whether the static happened in Akira's footage too. The girl nodded. "Sure." She shifted her weight onto her back foot and pulled her phone out of the pocket of her coat. "Can you type in your email address?"

Marik did, then she spent a minute or so tapping and clicking things, a frown slowly forming on her face. "The file's too big. Could I give it to you on a USB?"

Marik nodded, grinning. Thankfully, he knew how to use one of those now. "Good idea. When should we meet again, so that I can get it from you?"

"I'll come to wherever you're staying - don't you go to any trouble. Is it okay if I do it in a few days? I need to catch up on a lot of school stuff."

"Yeah, no problem. There's no hurry."

Akira shrugged. "By the way...I have questions for you too. About the shadow stuff and the millennium items."

Before Marik could respond, Bakura's eyes widened. "What have you told her?!"

 _We can't talk now!_ he thought, trying to ignore him. "Yeah?"

She shrugged. "I don't know...it's just...I don't know! It's so weird...like, how come no-one knows about them? Why can they do the things they do? Is it actual magic?"

Marik gave her a sympathetic look, ignoring the outraged spirit behind him. "I'll explain somewhere else," he said quietly.

Akira sighed, nodding. "Okay. See you soon, Marik."

With that, she walked off, towards the teenage boys, waving enthusiastically. Bakura rounded on Marik. "Why didn't you tell me she knew things?!"

Marik stepped away. "Later. I don't want to look like I'm talking to myself."

"But-"

"Instagram."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "I don't care. This is more important!"

"Yeah, but it can wait until I can talk to you without looking like a total psycho!" he hissed, glancing around nervously. "They already think I shouldn't be here - I shouldn't be doing this investigation. I don't want to give them another reason."

Bakura paused, then nodded. "Good point. But don't think it's worth staying much longer," he added. "We know the killer was after Yugi. If Tadako had any sort of personal drama, it probably isn't relevant. We'd be wasting our time."

Marik cast him a sideways glance. "You're sure?"

"If I'm wrong, we can ask Akira about any personal stuff. After all," he went on, narrowing his eyes, "you've told her about the Millennium Items."

Marik rolled his eyes. "I get it. That was a little out of line."

"A _little-"_

"Please, shut up."

Bakura's expression shifted from 'miffed' to 'peeved'. Marik grinned. "Let's go home."

* * *

The next day, Marik was up early, wearing his usual midriff-revealing attire, riding a motorcycle. Marik loved motorcycles. As much as this had probably already been established to like, everyone, he felt it necessary to make it as clear as possible. He loved the wind in his hair, tugging at his clothes, and watching the ground race by beneath him.

It was also insanely amusing to watch Bakura try to keep his balance while sitting on the end.

"Isn't this fun!" he called back, for once not caring that people would think he was crazy, talking to himself. After all, he was whizzing along fast enough that not many people would hear.

Bakura was sitting on the end of the large seat, facing sideways, clutching on for dear life. "Marik, I have _no idea_ how you think this is fun! You're going to bloody kill us both!"

Marik shrugged. "Well, you're already dead, so there."

Bakura sighed, rolling his eyes. "How much longer will I have to sit on this thing?"

"Depends," Marik grinned, mischief lighting up his violet eyes. "I might decide to go the fun way."

Bakura's eyes widened. "Marik, no."

 _"Marik YES!"_

Marik put a little more pressure on the accelerator, taking the next turn as sharply as possible, watching, on the verge of cracking up, as Bakura clutched the seat harder, gritting his teeth. "Marik, slow down!"

"Never!"

"Marik, stop this bike _right now!"_

He glanced over his shoulder and stuck his tongue out at the once-formidable spirit. Then it came to him. "Bakura."

"Oh God."

"Bakura, I've had the best idea!"

"Bloody hell."

He grinned like a maniac, and threw one fist into the air. " _Card games on motorcycles_!"

Bakura actually took one hand off the bike to facepalm. "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Come on, it'd be great."

"Marik, that will never happen."

"Sure it will. It's genius."

"It's stupid," Bakura repeated.

"It's fabulous."

Bakura rolled his eyes again, giving up. "So, where are we actually going?"

Marik shrugged. "The museum. Ishizu hasn't been responding to my texts."

Bakura nodded, clenching his teeth. "And how far away is it?"

"Not far. Don't worry."

About 10 minutes later, Marik pulled up outside a large building in the middle of the city. Domino City was only really a major tourist destination for card game fanatics, so the square wasn't exactly crowded, but he could hear a couple of languages other than English and Japanese being spoken. He parked his motorcycle, and took the steps two at a time as he approached his sister's workplace.

The museum was pretty much what you'd expect. There were large posters for an exhibition of historical photographs from Stalin's Russia, and another about Medieval China. Marik still wasn't quite sure what Ishizu's job actually was. She'd co-ordinated the Egyptian exhibition, but he didn't think she had anything to do with this. Sometimes she did admin stuff. Sometimes tour guides. Whatever it was, it was somehow flexible enough for her to go on leave for a month to play card games during Duelist Kingdom.

With Bakura just behind him, Marik approached the front desk. A young girl with very pale skin, black glasses, and long, blonde, almost white hair, dusted with pastel colours, was at a computer, dealing with people's queries. According to her name-tag, her name was Charlotte. The duelist got in the line, impatiently waiting to get to the front. It was weird that Ishizu wasn't texting him, especially about this. Card games. Shadow games. It made him more convinced that she knew something.

He asked after Ishizu, and Charlotte frowned. "Who?"

"Ishizu Ishtar."

"Oh, her! She's in Egypt at the moment, I'm afraid. She left yesterday."

Marik blinked, glancing at Bakura, who shrugged. "What?"

The girl shrugged. "She's probably on the plane now. What did you need her for?"

"I'm her brother. I thought she was in Japan."

Charlotte shook her head. "Didn't she contact you?"

Marik shook his head, unable to stop a little bitterness creeping into his voice. "No, she didn't. Thanks anyway."

She shrugged, turning back to her computer. "No problem."

He and the spirit turned away, sitting down on a long, rather stiff couch near the door. Marik was totally confused. _She watches the news, right? Wouldn't she, of all people, know I'm here? Unless she needed to talk to Rishid..._

"Well, this sucks," Bakura mused.

Marik nodded. "My sentiments exactly..."

He pulled out his phone and checked his messages, his emails, his facebook, (and Neko Atsume, but that had nothing to do with Ishizu,) _everything_ , but Ishizu hadn't contacted him. He bit his lip. "What if it wasn't about me? What if she had to go to Egypt for some other reason?"

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "Well, whatever the reason, it probably wasn't for some sort of holiday, knowing your luck."

"Thanks. Loving the moral support," he said sarcastically, putting his phone back in his pocket.

The spirit ignored him, his brow furrowed, deep in thought.

Marik sighed. "What now? We _still_ haven't spoken to Hiroki guy." He pulled out his phone again, looking at his last messages with Ishizu, still anxious. _Maybe I should have contacted her earlier. Does this have anything to do with all the shadow games? Does she know something?_

Then he realised. "Ishizu must know about the millennium scales!" he suddenly said, a little too loudly. Several people looked over, including Charlotte, who gave him a classic 'you're a weirdo' look. But he didn't care.

Bakura paused. "Why?"

Marik was grinning now, feeling as if he had made some sort of headway. "Taylor's family had the scales for ages, yeah?"

"Yeah..."

"But eventually her brother sold them to someone we know nothing about. Yet _somehow_ they got back to Ishizu before the duel between Yugi and Atem!"

Bakura blinked slowly. "Marik, that's bloody brilliant. I mean it."

He grinned. "I know. We should talk to Lucas Whitchurch then, too."

Bakura nodded. After a brief moment of silence, the spirit's eyes lit up with mischief. "What if _I_ went to talk to Whitchurch?"

Marik rolled his eyes. "He can't _see_ you."

"You couldn't either, initially," Bakura explained. "Not until I showed myself. Which is why it was so strange that Taylor could. But I can easily just present myself to Lucas."

The duelist inclined his head slightly. "Okay. But can you ask him that I can't?"

"Think about it. I can pretend I'm, I don't know, some sort of vengeful spirit who wants the scales back or something, and interrogate him about what he did with them. If I scare him enough, he wouldn't lie."

The duelist considered this for a moment. It made enough sense, and he could visit Hiroki at the same time. "Alright, 'vengeful spirit', what will you do if he won't tell you?"

"Oh, he will," Bakura replied, standing up.

Somehow, Marik didn't doubt that. At all. "Right. So you'll talk to Lucas, and I'll find Hiroki."

The spirit nodded, and they walked out of the museum, silently parting ways when they reached the exit. Marik couldn't help checking his phone again as he walked, back to the apartment to get his laptop.

 _I really hope Ishizu's okay._


	11. Chapter 10

While he was buying cat food, Marik had the sudden urge to buy a trench coat as well.

He was slightly concerned that Kaiba's influence was rubbing off on him, but he followed thorugh nonetheless. Japan was cold, and he didn't think constantly exposing his midriff at the expense of being comfortable was worth it anymore. Besides, trench coats were not only warm, but they instantly made you approximately 200% more badass with no effort, right?

It didn't take him long to find a nice, warm cream-coloured one, reaching down to his knees, with three large buttons across the front, and a typical collar, which he spent a good twenty minutes playing with, wondering whether it looked better flipped up, or lying flat.

"What do you think, 'Kura?" He'd asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"I think you should stop calling me that before I hire a guy to kill you in your sleep."

Now, dressed in his absolutely fabulous new attire, he was on a bus, his collar flat, but slightly askew. The bus was relatively empty - there were about five other people there. A pair of kids, no older than twelve, sat near the front, the girl with a yellow scarf wrapped around her neck, wearing a warm-looking red coat, the boy with a puffy jacket on, hanging open, talking. A teenager, in a green and white school uniform, with black hair, and a thick, slightly poofy fringe was staring out the window. A brown-haired guy, probably Marik's age or a little older, was at the back, a shopping bag at his feet, bright red packets of pasta sticking out the top.

Marik smiled. He liked watching other people - random people, in the street, on public transport, out the windows of cafes - imagining what their life was like. Wondering whether theirs could possibly be half as crazy as his own.

 _Nahh._

Marik was glad he was finally talking to this Hiroki Hirata figure. He wondered what his relationship with Tadako had been like. Had it been like Yugi and Kaiba? Or was it less intense? Heck, could their rivalry have been more intense? Was this even possible?

Hiroki was sharing a flat with a girl called Oda Sakura. Aside from having a fairly recognisable surname, Marik knew next to nothing about her. I wonder if she's a duelist.

The bus finally pulled up at the stop he wanted, and he got out quickly, stepping out onto the busy street. He checked the address, written on a slip of paper in his pocket, and made his way there. And after negotiating his way through identical apartments for a good 20 minutes, Marik finally, _finally_ came to Hiroki's door.

He knocked, three times. It was Oda who answered. She was shorter than Marik had expected - the blonde duelist could probably rest his chin on her head. She couldn't be much taller than Yugi. Her hair was long and fluffy, chocolate-brown, with curled ends, dip-dyed a rich purple. "Yes?"

"Oda Sakura, correct?"

"Yeah. And you're they guy on the news who wants to know about Tadako. Mr Ishtar, right?"

Marik blinked, caught off guard. "Just Marik, please. I was on the news?"

"A few nights ago." She brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. "I'm guessing you want to talk to Hirata?"

"If he's home."

"Yeah, come in, just wait on the couch."

Oda darted away, and Marik walked in, a little uneasy, adjusting his trench coat's collar. _What was on the news about me?_

Soon enough, Oda appeared again, Hiroki just behind him. The differance in the pairs' height was incredibly striking - Hiroki was about as tall as Honda. He had thick, messy black hair, and wore a cowneck sweater, faded jeans, and no shoes. He glanced at Oda. "Did you offer him coffee?"

Oda shrugged, glancing at Marik. "Do you want any?"

"I'm fine. I just want to talk," he replied easily.

Hiroki just continued to look aloof. "Marik, is it? Look, I didn't kill him," he said bluntly. "What more can I possibly offer?"

"I don't know yet."

The duellist blinked disdainfully. "Some murder investigator, then."

"With all due respect," Marik started, narrowing his violet eyes dangerously, "I could kick your ass from here to England playing card games, so can we please just have a little respect for each other, Hirata?"

Oda grinned, evidently amused. Hiroki clenched his fist. "It's Hiroki to you, okay? I didn't say I don't respect you, I just thought you'd know what you're doing."

Marik blinked. So this guy was enough of a duellist that he didn't dismiss Marik's card-game-playing prowess, even if he seemed like a pretty stand-offish character on the whole. "Great. Lovely to know your opinion on the way I should be doing my job. Moving on - did you know Kioru well?"

Hiroki pulled a stool over, and sat down. Oda plonked herself on the couch beside Marik. "No."

"Please, don't make this more difficult than it needs to be. Did you ever _talk_ to him, outside of duels with him?"

"Yeah. We're rivals, but we'd have chat occasionally. About cards."

"What was he like?"

"Very nonchalant. Laid-back. He was always friendly, and animated, yet slightly timid. Very passionate about the game, though."

Oda sat up, adding, "He always wanted to know what cards Hirata had. I don't know if he wanted to get in on his strategy, if he was interested in trades, or whether he was just curious."

"Do you duel?" Marik asked her.

"Yeah, I like to think I have a pretty good deck. I'd give Hirata a run for his money."

Hiroki rolled his eyes. "As if."

"Christmas, 2014."

The other duellist raised an eyebrow. "I was drunk, Sakura."

"Still."

Marik smiled. "How did you and Kioru get on?"

"Like I said, I didn't talk to him much," Hiroki replied stubbornly.

"Did he have any other rivals?"

He paused to think. "Not as far as know."

Oda nodded. "I knew him better than Hirata, actually. We were friends. We met at my school's semi-formal - the guy my friend wanted to go with rejected her, and Tadako wouldn't let her go alone. They started dating after that."

"Were they together when..."

"No. She's moved back to London. That was quite a few years ago." She shifted her position slightly, sinking back into the couch. "But Tadako and I remained fairly close. I...I watched his final match online."

"We both did," Hiroki added.

Marik nodded. "And...what was your relationship with Kioru like, Hiroki?"

Hiroki looked away. "I don't hate the guy. I just hate being beaten." He lifted his chin, and Marik's gaze. "I don't like seeing my pride hurt."

"And...Kioru hurt your pride?"

The other duellist clenched his fist, raising his voice. "Look, I know why you're here. I'm Kioru's rival, therefore I must want him dead, right?"

Marik blinked. "It's a possibility."

"Well it's not true. You're Yugi's rival, right? Yet you're trying to get him out of prison. It's like you said on the news. - that's...that's just not how the duel monsters world works."

 _That went on the news?!_

But Marik just inclined his head. "It's okay. I understand. We're all duellists, after all. But these are questions I have to ask. We're there any...incidents I should know about?"

"No."

"Okay. One more question...what about the Millennium Items? The Millennium Scales? Rod? Puzzle? Does that ring a bell?"

Hiroki and Oda exchanged a glance, then shook their heads. Marik bit his tongue, wanting to scream. _Does this mean I still don't have a damn suspect?!_

He stood up abruptly. "Well, thanks for having me. I'll let you know if I have any more questions."

Oda stood up too, shaking his hand. "Please, tell us if there are any other developments."

Hiroki nodded. "Though she liked bastard more than I ever did."

Oda glared at him, and even Marik was surprised that he talked about the dead that way. He blinked. "My father's Australian. It was a compliment."

Marik nodded, understanding. Oda let him out. Disappointed, he went back down the corridor, his hands shoved in his pockets, shoulders hunched. His brain worked furiously, trying to put the pieces together.

 _Taylor knows of the Millennium Scales, can use them, and has a girlfriend - we don't know who she is. Francis and Hiroki are duellists, and Hiroki was his rival...but I'm Yugi's rival too, and I don't want him dead, so that doesn't confirm anything. Anyway, we think the killer wanted to kill Yugi, and then there's the tape keeps jumping in that one spot. God, why doesn't this make sense?! Why can't I figure this out?!_

Then there was a _disturbance_.

Marik couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. He felt some sort of dark energy for a moment.

He pushed the feeling away, pushing the button on the elevator. Must be imagining things.

He sighed, and stepped inside, heading back to the ground floor. I guess this Lucas guy is our last hope. _I hope Bakura is doing better than I am..._

* * *

Bakura had forgotten how much _fun_ it was to terrorise people.

So this Lucas Whitchurch guy had seemed pretty shady from the outset - more shady than Taylor. Or at least, he seemed unpleasant. It had taken a while to track him down, and to the spirit's surprise, he wasn't in Japan. He was in Philadelphia. Thankfully, this was no problem for him, being able to teleport. (Being a spirit generally sucked, but it had its good points too.)

So, at around 9:30 at night, he'd poofed himself to Philadelphia. He didn't have the faintest idea why Lucas had chosen that particular city. Maybe he just really liked cream cheese. Either way, he was at Philadelphia University, studying Architecture, and lived on campus. And Bakura was more than ready to scare the crap out of him.

He was very experienced in scaring the crap out of people. It was almost a hobby. At about 11pm, he began to snoop around inside the filing cabinets in their admin building to figure out exactly where Whitchurch's room was. It didn't take long. However, there was a slight complication - when Bakura went to the room, Whitchurch wasn't there.

However, the low thumping of dubstep music a few blocks away caught Bakura's attention. He grinned madly. He could terrorise the poor bloke in front of his friends.

 _GIANT WIN. YES. WOW. MARIK WOULD 100% NOT APPROVE. NICE._

So, he set off in the direction of the bar - 'The Heorot'. Clever. Bakura was sad that he was probably the only person who would appreciate the reference to Beowulf, despite being over double its age.

He teleported in there, and bloody hell was he unprepared. He hadn't been to a party in a very long time. Maybe he'd never been to a party. He'd certainly never been drunk, nor had he seen drunk people in this particular setting. Mind-numbingly loud EDM music was blasted out from speakers in every direction, groups of people were half-yelling, half-laughing at/with each other, wearing unbelievably obscene clothing. _How the bloody hell is this legal?! This isn't the Heorot, this is the_ Hoerot _..._

Well, if this was the Heorot, he was about to play Gredel.

He scanned the sea of faces for Lucas. It didn't take long for Bakura to spot the bastard - he was with a large group of guys, talking loudly and drunkenly. He wasn't an unattractive bloke - he had tanned skin, thick black-brown hair, and a sharp jawbone.

The spirit floated over, wondering whether Whitchurch would see him, as Taylor had. Sure enough, he did - his eyes flicked over Bakura for a moment, before dismissing him.

 _Mistake number one._

"...and I'd known her for three months, right, being nice to her, giving her attention and all that-" he broke off, sculling half a glass of beer, "and then she friendzoned me!" he shouted over the music, gesturing emphatically at his friends. "I'm nothing but good to her, and what do I get for it? Nothing!"

"But you're _the_ nice guy!"

"She wasn't worth your time, man, she sounds like a stone cold bitch..."

Whitchurch rolled his eyes. "Yeah, she was totally frigid..."

Bakura clenched his fist. _Mistake number two, bloody tosser!_

"Hey, Lu, Lu, the other day, there was this hot Muslim girl, and I wolf whistled as she went past, right? As like, a compliment? And she gave me the coldest glare you've ever seen, man, we've all got if tough, eh?"

" _Ha_ , probably hiding a bomb under that burqa."

"Probably on her period..."

Bakura couldn't stand listening anymore. He narrowed his eyes, practically growling. He walked right up to Lucas, and grabbed him by the collar. "Not another word, you mangy git!"

Lucas looked take aback. "Oh, I'm sorry, have I offended you?" he said mockingly, apparently not realising the danger he was in. "Has your girlfriend come crying to you to teach me a lesson or something?"

Bakura gritted his teeth. "I have no girlfriend."

Lucas grinned, looking around at his friends. "Ayyy, we got a poofter, guys! I get it now! That sure explains the guy-liner! You find me attractive, eh? Well, I hate to tell ya mate, but-"

One of his friends tapped Whitchurch on the shoulder. "Lucas, who the hell are you talking to?"

Lucas broke of suddenly, his voice catching in his throat.

 _Mistake number three._

"I-I'm talking to...to..."

His sentence faded away to nothing as Bakura tightened his grip on Whitchurch's collar, his eyes cold and hard. He knew he looked menacing. He narrowed his eyes, and Whitchurch swallowed nervously. "What the hell..."

"This is about the Milennium Scales, Whitchurch."

With that, he let purple-black shadow maisma drift off him, staring this racist, sexist bastard down. Behind him, Bakura heard someone whisper 'someone get the camera!' He smirked, half-wishing he could get the footage somehow afterwards. Lucas's face twisted into a look of horror. "Who are you?!"

"I'm a ghost, I'm over 2000 years old, and I want that artefact. Where. Is it."

"It's in Egypt!" he squeaked. "Leave me alone!"

"You sold it to someone," Bakura pressed. "You sold it to someone, didn't you? Who."

"I-I don't know their name!" He stammered. "He gave me eleven million yen, then left!"

Bakura pulled Lucas closer, his gaze becoming more intense. "If I don't get those scales, there will be drastic consequences for you. Negative consequences."

"I-I can't help you!"

 _Oh my God, this idiot_... "What did he look like?"

"H-he was tall, and he was wearing a really big coat, and this black fedora or something, and I don't know where he went, I promise! I was in Egypt at the time, and I-I'd arranged to give it to him beforehand!"

Bakura gritted his teeth. He would send this imbecile straight to the shadow realm if he could - if he ever did get his hands on a millennium item again. "Tell me everything! Where did you meet? Did he have an accent?"

"W-we spoke in English. At a bar. We...I think we had a lot of Vodka..."

The spirit narrowed his eyes, and let the wanker go, letting him fall sharply onto the corner of the table. He whimpered in surprise, clutching his side. Bakura flipped up his collar, and turned around swiftly, his coat tails dramatically flaring out behind him. "If I don't get those scales, this won't be the last you see of me, Whitchurch. Be certain of that."

And with that, he teleported away, Lucas Whitchurch staring after him in terror, and awe.


	12. Chapter 11

Marik and Bakura reconvened at the apartment, both disappointed with the amount of information that they'd been able to gather. Bakura was still mad that he hadn't been able to play a shadow game with Whitchurch. "The wanker deserves it. If you'd just _lend_ me the millennium ring-"

"Right. Because that went _so well_ in the past." Marik was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Bakura looked thoroughly annoyed, but dropped the matter. "Have you heard anything from Ishizu? Has Rishid seen her?"

Marik shook his head. "No. No, I called Rishid yesterday. He said he knew she was coming, but hadn't seen her. She wasn't staying in Cairo - she was staying in the tombs." Frustration rose in his voice as he went on - "But I don't get why she won't talk to me! Rishid seems to think she's safe, but...I haven't done something wrong, have I?"

"You've done plenty of things wrong."

"...why is it that I spend time with you again?"

"Because I'm fabulous."

"You're a...you're a git."

The spirit shrugged. "Those things aren't mutually exclusive."

Marik rolled his eyes, sitting up, and crossing his legs. "Whatever. I just...as long as she's okay, right?"

"I guess," Bakura replied.

Marik nodded, and the pair sat in silence for a minute or so. It was a terribly grey day - rain thundered against the window, strong wind whistling through the trees. It was mid-afternoon - he'd planned to get more cat food for Ra, who was currently curled up in Bakura's lap, but the weather had forced him to stay indoors. Marik finally asked - "You're not still mad about me telling Akira about shadow magic, are you?"

The spirit sighed. "It was a bloody stupid move, but you can't change it now."

The duelist shrugged. "She deserved to know."

" _Still."_

"What? It's not like _she's_ going to develop a split personality or anything."

"You never know."

Marik scoffed, folding his arms. "As if she'll ever go through anything like...like _that_ ," he replied, suppressing a shudder, his voice like stone. A cold numbness passed through the marks on his back.

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "You care about her. What if she gets hurt because of this?"

"Wha- who says I care about her?!"

"You care about everyone. You care enough about Yugi to get yourself mixed up in this mess."

"Hey, hey, slow down. I _owe_ Yugi, okay? That's all."

"Admit it, Marik. You're just as sappy as Jonouchi and Honda and the rest of them."

Marik opened his mouth to attempt to argue, then shut it again, realising Bakura was probably right. "Well, at least I have the decency to feel ashamed about it."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Right. Because that makes sense."

"I think you'll find that it _does,_ actually."

"Sure. If you say so."

"Just...shut your stupid mouth..."

Bakura smirked. "Don't you have a meeting with Shota today?"

"Ugh, don't remind me..."

It was Thursday. Meaning today, Marik was meant to meet with Shota and give him some idea of how the investigation was getting on. (See: badly and slowly.) "I have no idea what to tell him. I've made virtually no progress."

Bakura shrugged. "No suspects doesn't mean no progress. You've done heaps. You can confirm a bunch of things they don't know."

"Really? Wouldn't...wouldn't that involve explaining shadow games to him?"

The spirit paused. "You can prove that the game was being manipulated in Tadako's favour - therefore Yugi wouldn't have been doing it."

"Yeah. If he asks about other leads, though...should I mention the scales going between Whitchurch and Ishizu?"

"No," Bakura said firmly. "I'm sure once everything's over there'll be some evidence you can show them, that _doesn't_ involve the millennium items."

Marik sighed, gazing out the window, watching raindrops race each other down the glass pane. "I hope you're right..."

* * *

Marik sat opposite Shota, terrified. Though Shota was still as lax as ever, Marik was concerned... _what if this isn't enough? Will I be forced to stop? Will Yugi be stuck in prison?_ He felt an enormous weight on his shoulders, weight that he couldn't get rid of, and his hands were sweating.

"So, Marik? What do you have for me?"

The blonde brushed a strand of hair off his face, pulling the KaibaCorp laptop out of his bag, as well as the list of duel monsters cards Tadako had used out of his bag, trying to keep his hands from shaking too much. "I don't know who the killer was - yet. But I know it wasn't Yugi."

Shota inclined his head slightly, moving around to Marik's side of the desk as the duelist opened the official footage from the duel between Yugi and Tadako. Bakura had talked Marik through what he would do and how he would explain - they'd even practised together a couple of times, but Marik was still nervous he'd stuff it all up.

They sat through the video once. Of course, Marik paused it before Tadako's life points hit zero. That wasn't something he desired to see again. Ever. Shota watched intently, his finger tapping on the bottom of the desk. Marik struggled to keep his breathing even. _Calm down. You're fabulous. Everything's fine._

As the video finished, Marik took a deep breath, handing Shota a sheet of paper with Tadako's deck list, and began to talk Shota through his logic. "These are the cards in Kioru's deck, and these are the ones he drew," he said quickly, signalling to the sheet of paper. "Now, back to the video-" he broke off, and Shota looked up as the camera cut out briefly. Marik paused the video. "At this point, with the cards in his deck, can you see any way out of this situation, besides through the exact cards Kioru draws?"

Shota glanced at the cards currently in Tadako's hand, then the cards in his deck. "With my limited knowledge...no."

Marik nodded. "With my _thorough_ knowledge, I can say for certain that there isn't one. And that camera cutting out? That tells me that there were _forces_ at play - forces that are the reason I was called to investigate this. And whoever caused Kioru's death was manipulating the duel in Kioru's favour - it was Yugi that he was trying to kill. Kioru was supposed to win."

Shota paused, then nodded. He looked at Marik, a small smile on his face. "This is progress. I trust you'll be able to locate the true killer?"

"I...I hope so. It's been difficult."

"Still. Any names?"

He hesitated. Maybe he _should_ mention Taylor, but... _No. I don't have any solid evidence_. "No. No names yet."

Shota stood up, gesturing for Marik to do the same, resting his hand briefly on the duelist's shoulder. "It's only been a week, Marik. You'll be fine."

Marik let out a heavy sigh of relief. _Yeah. It'll be fine._

* * *

"YUGI FRICKIN' MOTOU!"

Marik watched as Yugi emerged into the lobby, his friends running to greet him - Jonouchi, in particular, reminded the duelist of a puppy being reunited with its owner. The blonde ruffled his friend's hair. "I knew you'd get out!"

"Er...thanks?"

"Marik texted us 20 minutes ago - Honda's booked us a table at Sally's - you know, near KaibaCorp? There's six of us - you, me, Honda, Anzu, Taylor (you'll like her, she's great), and Ryou, if you're feeling up to it. You in?"

"I guess so, thanks so much guys..."

A lot more hugging ensued. Marik watched with amusement as Yugi tried to protect his hair from the almost constant onslaught of hugs from Jonouchi, Honda and Anzu. He hung back, smiling - he felt like this moment wasn't really for him.

"That...is absolutely disgusting."

Marik jumped as Bakura materialised next to him, and glared at the spirit. "Stop doing that! Besides, what's disgusting about it?"

"It's too happy. I can't stand it."

"Then why did you come?"

Bakura shrugged. "Moral support, in case you failed. Besides, this proves that you're a total sap."

Marik grinned, punching the spirit's arm. "Very supportive of you."

Bakura was about to open his mouth again, (likely to deal some petty insult,) but closed it, glancing at Yugi. Marik followed his gaze, to find his violet eyes meeting Yugi's even stranger red ones. The vertically challenged duelist was smiling as he mouthed the words 'thank you' from the middle of a ginormous group hug.

Marik smiled back, a relatively unfamiliar warm feeling spreading through his chest.

 _Goddamnit._

* * *

"Wait - doesn't this mean Yugi's in danger?"

Marik was on the phone to Ryou, sitting on his bed, wearing the most comfortable pair of tracksuit pants he owned, and no shirt. He'd persuaded Bakura to leave the room - it would be strange to talk to one Bakura in the other's presence. "What?"

"Marik, someone was out to kill him, and they failed. Won't they try again?"

The blonde blinked. "Oh, _crap_. You might be right." _How the hell did I miss that?_

"And I still don't get how someone was able to access the Millennium items while they were all in the tombs..." Ryou's mellow voice crackled a little - there was bad reception on his end. He was in an underground carpark, at Domino City's library, about to do some work on a school assingment.

"Me neither. With modern technology, it's probable that someone accessed them remotely, somehow."

"Like Pegasus?"

"Yeah."

"But...Pegasus _did_ have the Millennium eye on him. The video camera and TV and things were just vehicles to extend the eye's powers' reach." A car door slammed in the background.

"True. But we- I haven't been able to come up with any other logical explanation."

"It was impossible for anyone to sneak into the tombs? Was there anyone in Egypt who knew about the items?"

"Rishid was in Cairo. Ishizu was in Japan. By the way, have you spoken to her? Do you know why she went to Egypt?"

"She isn't telling you?"

"No, nor is she telling Rishid."

"Huh."

"I guess if she hasn't told Rishid, she's keeping all of us out of it for some reason."

"Yeah. It's a bit strange though, isn't it?"

"Mm. I guess she can do what she wants, though."

"True. Well, I won't bug her. If she hasn't told you and Rishid, then I don't think she'll be telling anyone anytime soon." The sound became a little less fuzzy - Ryou must've emerged onto the street or something.

"Yeah, no."

There was a brief pause. "Yugi says he's going to get straight back to duelling."

"Good. We can show the killer we're not scared."

Ryou sighed, causing the line to crackle a bit. "That's what Yugi said. But Isn't he putting himself in too much danger?"

"It's not like he's going to _lose_ a card game anytime soon," Marik pointed out drily. "He's fine. If he's duelling again, he's recovering mentally, at least."

"...I suppose. But Marik, _what if someone's still trying to kill him?_ "

"Hey, I'm on it. I'm fixing that now."

"You didn't sound very confident the other day."

"Well...Akira's coming around to give me another copy of the footage soon. That could help." _Marginally_.

"Okay. I trust you. Just...I don't want anyone to get hurt, and I'm worried about everything...I thought _this_ was over. Shadow Games and evil alter egos and...stuff."

Marik stiffened. Yami Bakura's presence was supposed to be kept a secret from Ryou. From everyone. "Alter egos? Didn't we deal with that?"

"Well, yes, but...I don't know. I just...don't want history to repeat itself."

"I know. None of us do." _Though Yami Bakura has been surprisingly helpful when he's manifested like this..._

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm going into the library now - do you know anything about the Meiji period?"

"Nah, sorry. Let me know when you get the chance to study ancient Egypt."

Ryou laughed. "Don't worry, I think the others are all over that one. Though Dr Wurtz does like to emphasise Japanese history over other cultures. And Arakawa-Sensei always picks modern stuff." Ryou was a bit of a history nerd - he'd opted to be in two different classes, because he was just that nerdy.

"Aah, too bad. Well, the world wars are interesting, at least."

"Mm - 'Germany is invading the neighbors, then they invade the neighbors' neighbors, then, the neighbor's neighbors' neighbors, who happen to be Britain, said 'holy shiiit' and the United States started helping Britain because they are good friends and started not helping Japan because 'Their friends and our friends are not friends. Plus they're planning on invaaading the entire ocean.' '"

"... _what_?"

"Oh, nothing. See you!"

And with that, Ryou hung up, while Marik stared at the phone, his brow creased with confusion.

 _Who's invading the entire ocean?!_

* * *

 _ **For anyone who's confused, chuck 'history of japan' into youtube :)**_

 _ **I'm probably going to rework a couple of the earlier chapters of this, so just a heads up about that!**_

 _ **Also, what do you guys think of the pacing? Has it become too slow? I don't know if I'm worrying about nothing, so let me know what you guys think!**_


End file.
